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AUTHOR: 


nciUvjjLZ,  rriLiutiriio 

HENRY 


TITLE : 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD  OF 
HEBREW  TRADITION 

PLACE: 

BOSTON 

DA  TE : 

1872 


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Columbm  ilniUf  rs(it|) 

THE  LIBRARIES 


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THE 


Primeval   World 


OF 


HEBREW    TRADITION. 


BY 


FREDERIC   HENRY   HEDGE. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


f      s 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS      BROTHERS. 
1S72. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

FREDERIC    H.    HEDGE, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE  : 
PEE88WORK  BY  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 


I 


D 
O 


^ 


1 


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TV 

o 


x> 


IS 


CONTENTS. 


_  Page 

I.  The  World  a  Divine  Creation     ....  1 

II.  Man  in  the  Image  of  God        .        :        .        .  23 

III.  Man  in  Paradise 43 

IV.  The  Brute  Creation 67 

V.  Paradise  Lost 99 

VI.    Cain,  or  Property  and  Strife  as  Agents  in  Civ- 
ilization  125 

VII.  Nine  Hundred  and  Sixty-nine  Years?         .        .  143 

VIII.  The  Failure  of  Primeval  Society    .        .        .       167 

IX.  The  Deluge 191 

X.  The  Great  Dispersion 217 

XI.  Jehovah  and  Abraham.  —  A  Hebrew  Idyl  .        .  241 

XII.  The  Heritage  of  the  Inner  Life      .        .        .       263 


86()9B 


THE  WORLD  A  DIVINE  CREATION. 


THE  WORLD   A   DIVINE   CKEATION. 


THE  WORLD  A  DIVINE  CREATION. 

"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth."  —  Genesis  i.  1. 

We  have  here  the  first  proposition  of 
human  reason,  as  it  shaped  itself  in  the 
Hebrew  mind.  Whatever  the  learned 
may  think  of  the  authorship  and  an- 
tiquity of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  of  the  high  antiquity  of  this 
proposition,  of  this  doctrine,  that  God 
made  heaven  and  earth.  It  is  a  great 
deal  older  than  the  Book  of  Genesis,  as 
old  almost  as  human  reason  itself.  Here 
it  stands  in  the  fore-front  of  Hebrew  lit- 
erature, the  morning-star  of  Semitic  rev- 
elation, the  first,  impregnable  position  as 
it  is  the  last  result  of  human  wisdom, 
the  beginning  and  end  of  all  rational  cos- 
mogony. "  In  the  beginning  God  created 
the  heaven  and  tlie  earth."      The  origin 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


A 


Chap  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


of  tilings  is  divine.  The  universe  is  not 
self-existent,  but  derived.  The  spiritual 
is  before  the  phenomenal,  thought  before 
thing,  intelligence  co-ordinate  with  being. 
This  is  the  first  teaching  of  reflective 
faith,  the  dictate  of  earliest  wisdom. 
Here  religion  and  philosophy  meet  and 
join  hands. 

I  separate  this  first  sentence  from  those 
which  immediately  follow.  The  reader  will 
perceive  how  wide  the  gulf  which  divides 
them.  This  first  sentence  expresses  a  gen- 
eral and  irrefragable  truth.  There  follows 
a  cosmogony  which  challenges  criticism. 
Much  ingenuity  has  been  expended  in  vain 
attempts  to  reconcile  the  Bible  account  of 
creation  with  the  commonly  received  con- 
clusions of  science.  As  if  the  interests  of 
religion  and  man's  spiritual  well-being  de- 
pended on  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the 
Book  of  Genesis,  nay,  on  the  literal  inter- 
pretation of  tliat  Book.  What  perverse- 
ness  of  unbelief  can  exceed  the  perverse- 
ness  of  religious  bigotry  which  would  make 
religion  accountable  for  the  views  enter- 


THE   WORLD   A   DIVINE    CREATION. 


tained  by  remote  antiquity  on  subjects 
which  the  latest  science  has  scarcely  yet 
explored,  —  the  bigotry  which  fancies  the 
credit  of  the  Bible  or  the  value  of  its  spir- 
itual revelations  impaired  by  the  fact  that 
the  writers  thereof  entertained  the  opin- 
ions common  to  their  age  on  matters  of 
scientific  import  ?  No  reasonable  mind 
wiU  demand  of  tlie  seer  in  the  realm  of 
spirit  exact  erudition  concerning  the  things 
of  material  nature.  To  question  a  revela- 
tion of  spiritual  truth  because  of  error  in 
matters  entirely  foreign  from  the  purpose 
of  such  revelation  with  which  it  may  hap- 
pen to  be  associated,  is  like  rejecting  a 
pearl  because  of  the  roughness  of  the  shell 
which  contained  it,  or  want  of  culture  in 
the  diver  who  fetched  it  from  the  deep. 
"We  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  ves- 
sels," and  bibliolatry  ought  to  see  that, 
according  to  its  own  theory,  the  A'alue  of 
a  revelation  is  not  to  be  measured  bv  the 
learning  of  the  medium  through  which  it 
flows,  since,  according  to  its  own  theory, 
the  truth  revealed  is  not  a  product  of  the 


Chap.  L 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


human  understanding,  but  a  primary  gift 
of  God.     The  truths  of  science,  which  are 
trutlis  of  the   understanding,  have   their 
date;   they  develop  themselves   progres- 
sively in  the  order  of  time,  and  are  not 
to  be  anticipated  by  prophets  and  chosen 
men  of  God.     But  the  truths  of  religion, 
whicli  are  truths  of  reason,  are  of  no  age ; 
they  are  seen  by  men  of  all  time  to  whom 
the  word  of  God  comes  and  in  whom  the 
Spirit  of  God  breathes  the  revealing  wis- 
dom.    They  are  seen  by  men  unversed  in 
science.     They  were  seen  here  and  there 
as   clearly  by  men   of  old   as  in   recent 
time. 

The  attempts  to  reconcile  Scripture  and 
science  mistake  tlie  province  and  aim  of 
the  former.  Morally  and  religiously,  it 
is  not  of  the  slightest  consequence  that 
tliey  should  be  reconciled.  Each  has  its 
own  appropriate  sphere  entirely  distinct 
from  the  other,  and  the  commentator  who 
labors  to  vindicate  the  geological  accu- 
racy of  Scripture  by  finding  a  way  or  a 
sense  in  which  the  creation  of  earth,  sun, 


THE   WORLD   A   DIVINE   CREATION. 


and  stars  may  be  credibly  brought  within 
six  days  dishonors  the  Bible  in  effect  as 
much  as  the  superficial  philosopher  who 
rejects  it  because  the  work  of  creation  is 
so  represented  in  the  Book  of  Genesis. 
No  man  who  respects  his  own  under- 
standing and  God's  authority  in  it  can  be- 
lieve that  the  rock  formations  whose  steps, 
as  studied  by  geology,  measure  vast  ages, 
were  instantaneous  productions  when  the 
work  of  creation  began ;  and  no  one  who 
listens  reverently  to  his  own  heart  will 
spurn  a  book  or  collection  of  books  so 
freighted  with  everlasting  wisdom,  and  so 
manifestly  stamped  with  the  witness-seal 
of  the  Spirit,  because  he  finds  in  it  tradi- 
tions which  contradict  his  text-books.  If, 
as  astronomers  assure  us,  there  are  stars 
whose  light,  to  be  seen  by  us,  must  have 
occupied  more  than  ten  thousand  years  in 
travelling  hither,  it  follows  that  creation 
must  be  older  than  Biblical  chronology 
would  make  it.  But  this  no  whit  affects 
the  truth  of  the  proposition  we  are  now 
considering.    That,  as  we  have  seen,  is  en- 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


8 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


tirely  distinct  in  its  scope  and  import  from 
the  story  which  succeeds. 

"In    the    beginning    God    created    the 
heaven  and  the  earth."    Tliere  was  then 
a  time  when  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
were  not,  and  a  day  when  they  began  to 
be.      A  time  before  the  all-covering  sky 
was  spread,  and  the  lights  which  illustrate 
the  revolving  hours  were  sown  in  the  blue 
expanse;  before  the  waters   had  receded 
from  the  face  of  the  earth  and  the  dry 
land  emerged  from  the  deep :  a  time  when 
nothing  was  but  God.     In  the  contempla- 
tion of  such  a  time  we  are  lost  in  vague 
conjecture  or  steeped  in  brooding  wonder. 
God  is  from  everlasting,  witliout  date  or 
beginning ;  yet  -  in  the  beginning  »  we  are 
told  he  made  heaven  and  earth.     When 
was  that  beginning  wlien  the  worlds  were 
made  ?     Eeason  rejects  a  date  so  recent 
as  that  of  the  "Mosaic   chronology,"  as 
commonly  understood.     But  instead  of  six 
thousand  years,  if  we  say  six  million,  or 
six  thousand  million,  or  name  any  date 
which  the  human  imagination  may  assign, 


THE   WORLD    A   DIVINE   CREATION. 


9 


the  difficulty  still  remains,  the  question 
still  recurs  :  Why  then  ?  Why  not  earlier  ? 
And  what  was  God  doing  before  that  date  ? 
Any  beginning,  however   remote,  is  still 
recent  to  the  Being  who  has  none.     And 
before  that  beginning  can  we  suppose  a 
God  inactive  and  unproducing,  wrajjped  in 
the  contemplation  of  himself  and  the  sol- 
itary enjoyment  of  his  own  idea  ?     Such  a 
God  is  incredible,  inconceivable.    Creation 
is  the  logical  complement  of  Deity.     We 
cannot  separate  tlie  flowing  from  the  Foun- 
tain,  production   from   the    all-producing 
Power.      There   never  was    a    time   when 
nothing  was  but  God.      "In   the   begin- 
ning was  the  W^ord."     And  that  phrase, 
"  in  the  beginning,"  is  but  a  way  of  desig- 
nating a  dateless  antecedence,  which  may 
with  equal  propriety  be  rendered,  "  with- 
out beginning."     Without  beginning,  from 
everlasting,  was    the  Word,  the    creative 
energy,  divine  self-manifestation.     What- 
ever motive   existed  for  creation  at   any 
given  time  must  have  existed  from  all 
eternity,    since    the    Eternal,    antecedent 
1* 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


10 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creatio7i. 


to  creation  could  not  have  been  motived 
from  without,  and  the  motive  power  from 
within  must  have  been  from  all  eternity 
the  same  to  immutable  Wisdom. 

From  all  eternity,  therefore,  we  must 
suppose  God  to  have  exercised  creative 
power.  We  must  suppose  eternal  creation 
if  we  suppose  an  eternal  Creator.  These 
heavens,  indeed,  which  now  bend  over  ns 
and  the  worlds  that  swim  in  their  blue 
abyss  may  not  have  been  the  first-fruits 
of  his  Word.  This  earth  of  our  abode 
may  not  have  spun  from  everlasting  as 
now  it  spins  on  its  solar  road.  Creations 
endless  may  have  passed  away  ere  these 
morning  stars  sang  together  and  the  cho- 
ral skies  declared  the  glory  of  God.  But 
beings,  worlds,  there  must  have  been  to 
reflect  that  glory  and  to  occupy  creative 
Love.  These  heavens  and  this  earth  had 
a  beginning.  There  was  a  time  when  they 
were  not,  and  a  day  when  their  genesis 
took  place  according  to  ideas  eternal  in 
the  mind  of  God,  who  saw  the  worlds  yet 
unformed  in  himself,  in  "  the "  fruitful  bo- 


THE   WORLD   A   DIVINE   CREATION. 


11 


som  of  his  own  ideality,"*  and  called  the 
things  which  were  not  as  though  they 
were. 

Six  days  are  assigned  to  the  ^^ork  of 
creation  in  Hebrew  tradition.     Whatever 
else  we  may  understand  by  this  statement, 
it  indicates  a  perception  in  the  writer  that 
the  world  as  now  constituted  was  not  an 
instantaneous  birth,  but  a  gradual  forma- 
tion, the  growth  of  successive  periods  ;  he 
calls  them  days,  we  will  call  them  ages.f 
There  was  first  a  time  when  God  said.  Let 
there  be  light !   And  immediately  the  new- 
born radiance  streamed  through  space  and 
filled  the  deep  void  with  its  silent  pres- 
ence.    There  was  a  time  when  the  fiery 
ether   collected  its   atoms  and  balled  it- 
self into  suns  and  earths,  which  took  their 
places  and  ranged  themselves  for  the  sol- 
emn dance  whose  measure  is  the  measure 
of  all  the  ages.     Again,  there  was  a  time 
when  the  waters  of  this  globe  settled  down 

*  Norris. 

t  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  text  means 
literally  dwjs  of  twenty-four  hours  ;  but  the  fact,  if  not 
the  order  of  succession,  was  divined. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


12 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


in  their  beds  and  the  dry  land  rose  in 
continents  stretching  from  north  to  south, 
here  towering   in  granite   masses  to  the 
skies,   there   spreading   in  dreary  deserts 
or  opening  into  fertile  valleys  and  plains, 
watered  by  rolling  streams  and  fitted  for 
the  dwelling  of  man.     There  was  an  age 
when  the  kingdom  of  plants  was  brought 
forth  in  its  orders,  from  the  clinging  moss 
and  sallow  ocean-flower  to  the  perfect  tree, 
whose  roots  are  in  the  earth  and  whose 
head  is  in  the  skies,  and  which  blesses 
successive  generations  with  its  fruits  and 
its  shade.     There  was  an  age  when  the 
different  tribes  of  animal  nature  swarmed 
into  being,  and  "  the  moving  creature  that 
hath  life  after  its  kind  "  peopled  the  earth, 
the  air,  and  the  flood.     And,  last  of  aU, 
there  was  an  age  when  man,  the  noblest 
of  earthly  kinds,  was  formed  "  in  the  im- 
age of  God,"  and  set  with  his  hands  to- 
ward the  earth  and  his  face  toward  the 
heavens,  to  labor  in  the  seen  and  aspire  to 
the  unseen,  and  by  active  beneficence  re- 
flect his  divine  Ori^^inal. 


THE  WORLD   A  DIVINE   CREATION. 


13 


The  length  of  these  epochs  who  shall 
determine  ?  Who  can  measure  the  time 
consumed  in  these  formations  ?  We  only 
know  that  the  earth  has  become  what  it 
is  after  many  revolutions,  that  there  was 
a  time  when  the  planet  was  covered  with 
water,  another  when  it  bore  certain  mon- 
strous forms  of  animal  life,  and  that  ages 
inestimable  must  have  elapsed  between 
the  day  when  the  earth  first  rolled  in 
space  and  the  birth  of  man. 

If  this  view  of  creation  were  theory 
only,  and  not  an  assured  conclusion  of 
science,  it  would  yet  commend  itself  as 
coinciding  with  all  our  experience  of  di- 
vine operations.  The  method  of  God  in 
the  processes  of  nature  is  not  instantane- 
ous birth,  but  progressive  formation.  It 
proceeds  by  stages  and  degrees.  Nothing 
bursts  into  being  full  grown  and  complete. 
The  smallest  flower  that  paints  the  bor- 
ders of  the  spring  does  not  leap  from  the 
earth  with  its  petals  all  spread  and  its 
raiment  all  perfect.  First  the  seed  must 
burst   its   capsule,   then   the   germ    must 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


14 


PKIMEVAL   WORLD   OE   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


start,  then  the  blade  appears  and  divides, 
and  the  bud  must  swell  and  tlie  leaf  un- 
fold, and  the  colors  must  be  stamped ;  and 
thus  by  slow  degrees  and  successive  stages 
the  creation  of  that  little  bein<^  is  wrouo-ht 
out.     And  in  that  production  all  the  agen- 
cies of  nature  conspire.     The  earth  must 
feed  it  with  rich  juices,  the  clouds  must 
water  it  with  fertile  dews,  the  air  must 
quicken  it   with   subtile    gases,   the   sun 
must  paint  it  wath  w^arm  beams,  and  all 
the  stars  must  unite  to  hold  up  the  planet 
from  wliich  it  springs.     If  so  much  time 
and  such  an  array  of  means  are  required 
to  bring  a  single  flower  to  the  summit  of 
its  being,  how  many  ages  must  have  glided 
by  before  the  earth,  with  its  mountains 
and  its  forests,  could  reach  the  condition 
in  wdiich  man  first  found  it? 

The  patient  method  of  divine  operation 
rebukes  the  impatient  zeal  wdiich  thinks 
to  create  in  a  day  what  time  and  care 
alone  can  perfect.  When  material  crea- 
tion proceeds  so  slowly,  shall  the  moral 
creation,  the  genesis  of  truth  and  good- 


THE   WORLD   A  DIVINE   CREATION. 


15 


ness  in  human  society,  be  accomplished 
at  once,  by  instantaneous  reform?  We 
may  preach  and  persuade,  we  may  agitate 
and  legislate,  we  may  plant  and  water,  but 
the  fruit  must  wait  the  fulness  of  time. 
This  generation  will  not  see  its  maturino- 
our  children  will  not  see  it;  ages  must 
elapse  before  the  ideal  of  a  moral  commu- 
nity can  be  fulfilled. 

"In    the    beginning    God   created    the 
heaven  and  the  earth."     The  act  of  cre- 
ation to  us  is  as  inconceivable  as  its  Au- 
thor.    Creation  out  of  nothing  is  the  ec- 
clesiastical idea.     But  how,  where  nothing 
was,  could  something  begin  to  be  ?     Im- 
pressed with  the   difficulty  of  this   con- 
ception,   some   have  assumed  an  eternal, 
self-existing  matter  distinct  from  God,  un- 
conscious, inert,  merely  passive  to  divine 
operation,  of  which  they  suppose  the  uni- 
verse was  formed.     But  this  suiDposition 
does  but  substitute  a  greater  difficulty  for 
a  less.     It  is  even  more  difficult  to  con- 
ceive of  an  uncreated,  eternal,  passive  sub- 
stance than  it  is  to  conceive  of  creation 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


16 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION'. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


out  of  nothing.  In  fact,  creation  out  of 
nothing  means  only  that  the  worlds  were 
formed  of  no  pre-existing  foreign  sub- 
stance, distinct  from  God.  We  are  not, 
therefore,  to  infer  that  a  new  and  foreign 
substance  was  called  into  being,  but  rather 
that  the  act  of  creation  was  the  jzoinj^c  forth 
of  Deity  from  the  secret  of  absolute  Being 
into  light  and  show.  Creation  is  seK-man- 
ifestation,  the  projection  and  reflection  of 
the  divine  consciousness.  Every  material 
creature  is  the  expression  of  an  idea,  and 
the  word  matter  but  a  phrase  by  which  to 
signify  the  reality  of  that  idea.  God  in 
creating  did  not  bring  into  being  a  new 
substance  foreign  to  himself;  he  but  ut- 
tered forms  which  subsist  by  his  contin- 
uing effluence,  and  which,  if  he  should 
withdraw  his  spirit,  would  instantly  cease 
to  be ;  as  the  landscape  ceases  to  be  for 
the  eye  when  the  light  which  showed  it 
is  withdrawn.  The  material  creation  has 
no  independent  existence ;  it  exists  as  a 
constant  showing  of  God,  a  stated  commu- 
nication between  the  supreme  mind  that 


THE   WORLD   A   DIVINE    CREATION. 


17 


words  it  and  the  finite  minds  which  ap- 
prehend, which  experience,  which  use  and 
reflect  it.  These  alone  of  God's  creations 
truly  exist,  —  if  not  by  their  own  force, 
for  their  own  sakes.  The  material  crea- 
tion exists  only  in  'God  and  in  us.  In 
God  as  idea  and  volition,  in  us  as  expe- 
rience. 

In  all  that  God  does  we  suppose  a  pur- 
pose, and  that  purpose,  discoverable  or 
undiscovemble,  the  human  imderstandinf]: 
will  seek  to  explore.  And  so  the  human 
mind  could  not  fail  to  inquire :  TFhy  God 
made  heaven  and  earth  ?  WJiy  did  a  Be- 
ing, complete  in  himself,  and  self-suflicing, 
come  out  of  himself  in  creative  action  ? 
The  answer  to  this  question  is  given  in 
the  nature  of  Deity  as  reason  conceives  it. 
It  is  given  especially  in  that  conception 
of  Deity  which "  we  express  when  we  say 
that  God  is  Love.  God  created  a  universe 
because  creation  is  a  necessary  constituent 
of  the  divine  nature,  and  a  universe  the 
necessary  complement  of  God.  Deity  can- 
not be  without  self-manifestation.     As  it 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


18 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


is  the  nature  of  the  sun  to  sliine,  of  the 
fountain  to  flow,  so  it  is  the  nature  of 
Deity  to  give  forth,  to  express  and  reflect 
himself  in  creation.  He  created  and  cre- 
ates because  Love  must  have  an  object  to 
rejoice  in  and  bless,  because  the  all-lovin^^ 
would  not  abide  in  himself,  in  the  solitary 
contemplation  of  his  own  idea,  but  chose 
to  impart  of  his  fulness  to  sentient  beings, 
that  life  and  joy  might  everywhere  abound 
and  everywhere  reflect  his  Love. 

He  created  and  creates.     The  work  of 
creation  is  not  once  for  all,  but  continu- 
ous.    It  is  not  confined  to  one  period  in 
the  life  of  God,  but  reaches  from  everlast- 
ing to  everlasting.     In  all  time  past  the 
Godhead  has  been  unfolding  his  fathom- 
less Self,  and  in  aU  time  to  come  will  con- 
tinue to  unfold  it.     The  Fountain  is  eter- 
nal, it  can  never  cease  to  flow.     The  Love 
is  infinite,  it  can  never  cease  to  impart  of 
its  fulness.     These  heavens  and  this  earth 
must  pass  away,  for  they  had  a  beginning, 
and  whatever  begins  must  end ;  but  other 
I  creations  will  succeed ;  new  orders  of  sen- 


THE  WORLD   A   DIVINE   CREATION. 


19 


tient  beings  will  express  the  riches  and 
reflect  the  glory  of  the  Ever-giving,  the 
Ever-loving. 

"  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth."  He  made  them 
for  the  occupancy,  use,  and  education  of 
rational  and  moral  natures.  The  material 
creation  exists  for  the  sake  of  the  moral ; 
it  derives  its  meaning  from  that.  These 
visible  heavens  and  this  earth  are  types 
of  an  invisible,  spiritual  creation,  whose 
import  and  purpose  they  reflect.  In  that 
spiritual  creation  we  are  agents  and  fel- 
low-workers with  God.  In  the  material 
we  produce  nothing,  we  only  mould  into 
new  forms  the  material  products  around 
us.  The  combined  power  and  wisdom  of 
human  kind  can  produce  no  additional 
matter,  nor  increase  by  a  single  atom  the 
substance  of  our  globe.  But  in  tlie  realm 
of  spirit  we,  too,  create  and  bring  forth. 
There  every  effort  of  the  will  is  creation, 
and  e^ery  deed  a  new  birth.  Our  char- 
acters are  our  own.  That  which  we  are 
and   do  as   moral   beings  we  make  and 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


20 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


fashion  ourselves.  And  this  moral  crea- 
tion in  which  we  are  fellow-workers  is  the 
only  one  in  which  w^e  have  any  continu- 
ing place  or  lot,  —  the  only  one  which 
itself  has  any  abiding  reality.  The  heav- 
ens and  tlie  earth  whicli  seem  so  real  are 
but  a  spectacle,  a  passing  entertainment, 
a  vision  shown  by  God  and  existing  only 
as  he  shows  it  to  the  spirits  with  whom 
he  thus  communes ;  a  transient  experi- 
ence of  the  ever-living  soul.  It  is  some- 
thing more  than  a  poet's  rhetoric  which 
affirms  that  "  the  great  globe  itself  and  all 
which  it  inherit  shall  dissolve."  It  is  so- 
ber, scientific  trutli.  Tliat  which  we  cre- 
ate for  ourselves  and  within  ourselves  by 
our  moral  agency  is  our  only  firm  posses- 
sion ;  for  us  the  only  enduring  creation. 
\yhat  we  rake  together  of  this  material  is 
a  loan  from  the  Lord  of  life,  a  temporary 
trust  which  w^e  yield  with  our  breath. 
Our  characters  alone  are  truly  ours,  the 
workmanship  of  the  spirit  that  is  in  us, 
a  real,  substantial  creation.  Here,  then, 
in  the  realm  of  spirit,  who  labors  faith- 


TIIE   ^VORLD   A   DIVINE   CREATION. 


21 


fully  is  like  to  God,  a  creator.  With 
the  first  and  sublimest  of  God's  attributes 
he  may  claim  affinity.  Here  shall  man 
work  unwearied  and  unceasinix,  creatino- 
in  himself  "  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  — 
a  heaven  of  wise  thoughts,  higli  purposes, 
pure  affections;  an  earth  well  tilled  and 
fruitful  of  good ;  a  moral  creation  to  have 
and  to  hold  wdien  this  material  "  shall  dis- 
solve, 

And  like  "  an  "  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind." 


Chap.  I. 

The  World 
a  Divine 
Creation. 


I 

/i 


MAN   IN   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


25 


MAN  IN  THE  IMAGE  OF  GOD. 

"  God  created  man  in  his  own  image.     In  the  im- 
age of  God  created  he  him."  —  Genesis  i.  27. 

The  creation  of  man  is  thus  distin- 
guished in  Hebrew  tradition  as  peculiarly 
divine,  —  not  only  God-made,  but  God- 
like. First  in  rank,  tliough  last  in  time, 
this  genesis  comj^letes  the  eternal  circle 
of  divine  evolution  which  be^rins  with 
God  and  ends  with  God,  begins  with  God 
active  and  ends  with  God  reflective,  be- 
gins with  God  imaging  and  ends  with 
God  imaged. 

"  In  the  image  of  God  created  he  him." 
First,  the  fact  of  creation,  then  the  kind. 
Man  is  created ;  he  is  not  self-existent, 
but  derived.  He  liad  a  begjinnin^.  Tliis 
is  not  a  fact  Avliich  we  learn  from  history. 
For  all  that  history  knows,  the  race  may 
have  existed  from  all  eternity,  although 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Itnage  of 

God. 


26 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


MAN   IN   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


27 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Ima^e  of 

God. 


the  record  of  its  existence  embraces  but 
a  span  of  a  few  thousand  years.  It  re- 
quired a  wisdom  beyond  the  experience 
of  history  to  teach  a  beginning  of  human- 
kind. 

There  was  a  first  man,  and  that  first 
man  was  not  tlie  first,  but  the  last  of 
earthly  creations.  In  this  postponement 
of  human-kind  to  plant  and  brute  there 
lies  a  profound  meaning,  —  a  meaning  not 
explained  or  not  exhausted  by  saying  that 
the  earth  must  first  be  stored  with  yeix- 
etable  and  animal  for  man's  subsistence, 
and  in  all  ways  got  ready  for  his  reception, 
before  he  could  be  fitly  placed  upon  it. 
If  tlie  animal  man,  for  the  reason  as- 
signed, behooved  to  be  last  of  earthly 
kinds,  still  more,  for  other  reasons,  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral.  It  was  meet  that 
lie  who  was  to  be  the  summit  of  creation 
should  conclude  all  orders  of  being  in  him- 
self and  reflect  them  all,  that  he  should 
have  creation  behind  him  and  beneath 
him,  —  he  being  the  goal  in  which  all 
things  terminate,  toward  which  all  things 


' 


V 


diverse  origin  of  the  human  race  can  be 


Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


point  and  strive,  —  the  reason  and  moral;  Chap,  ii 
of  the  visible  universe,  last  link  in  the 
chain  which  binds  the  creature  to  God. 

There  was  a  first  man.  The  question 
arises,  whether  one  first  man  for  the  whole 
human  family  or  one  for  each  continent, 
or  for  each  of  the  various  races,  —  Cau- 
casian, African,  IVIalay,  and  others  into 
which  the  naturalists  divide  mankind, — 
whether  the  human  family  originated  from 
a  single  pair  or  has  flowed  together  from 
different  centres  in  different  lands.  Either 
supposition  is  equally  consistent  with  the 
Biblical  narrative,  which,  though  it  men- 
tions but  one  first  pair,  and  derives  from 
that  the  three  main  streams  of  humanity 
represented  by  Shem,  Ham,  arnd  Japhet, 
does  not  affirm  that  all  human  beings  that 
have  ever  existed  in  the  world  were  de- 
scended from  that  pair,  and  that  God  cre- 
ated no  other  original.  This  may  seem  to 
be  implied  in  the  tenor  of  the  nan-ative, 
but  is  not  a  necessary  inference  from  it;  at 
any  rate,  is  not  a  Biblical  dogma.     If  the 


28 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IL 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


proved  from  other  sources,  the  Bible  is  not 
so  committed  to  the  opposite  view  that 
tlie  doctrine  of  the  sinole  origin  and  the 
credit  of  Scripture  must  stand  or  fall  to- 
gether. The  authors  of  these  Scriptures 
adopt  the  views  of  their  time  on  such 
subjects,  without  inculcating  as  doctrine 
the  views  they  adopt.  When,  therefore, 
theologians  maintain  as  Biblical  doctrine 
the  single  origin  of  the  human  race  they 
mistake  the  aim  and  purport  of  those  writ- 
ings. The  question  is  not  one  of  theol- 
ogy, but  of  history  and  physiology,  which 
the  learned  in  those  sciences  must  settle 
as  they  can.  At  present  it  remains  an 
unsettled  question.  Meanwhile,  this  at 
least  must  •be  conceded,  that  mankind, 
if  not  descended  from  one  original  pair, 
are  yet  essentially  one  family,  that  the 
differences  which  divide  the  various  races 
are  extrinsic  and  accidental,  wliile  their 
unity  is  intrinsic  and  essential.  One  and 
the  same  nature  pervades  all  varieties  of 
man  "  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  Man 
as  the  subject  of  history  and  divine  educa- 


/• 


MAN   IN   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


29 


tion  is  one.  All  the  nations  embraced  in 
the  scheme  and  scope  of  progressive  hu- 
manity are  one.  If  not  descended  from  one 
pair,  they  are  one  in  idea  and  destina- 
tion. It  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  ne- 
gro and  the  white  man  came  of  one  stock. 
Yet  who  shall  say  what  changes  time  and 
clime  may  have  wrought  ?  The  advocates 
of  negro  slavery  were  wont  to  argue  from 
the  present  inferiority  of  the  African  race 
that  bondage  is  their  true  destination.  To 
make  out  their  case,  they  should  have 
proved  that  the  negro  belongs  not  to 
the  human  family.  The  proof  would  be 
their  incapability,  under  favoral)le  circum- 
stances, of  civil  society  and  historic  de- 
velopment. That  is  a  point  which  time 
alone  can  test.  If  not  capable  of  ijivil 
society,  they  do  not  belong  to  the  human 
family.  In  that  case  they  will  finally  dis- 
appear from  the  earth. 

Another  point  suggests  itself  in  connec- 
tion with  the  ori<]jin  of  man.  Eecent  zool- 
ogists  of  high  repute  incline  to  the  belief 
that  man  was  not  an  original  creation,  but 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


30 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


lias  grown  by  gradual  development  from 
the  lower  strata  of  the  animal  world ;  spe- 
cifically—  as  tlie  latest  step  in  this  pro- 
cess —  from  tlie  simian  tribe.  The  oranjx- 
outang,  under  favorable  circumstances,  in 
the  course  of  long  ages,  grew,  it  is  sup- 
posed, into  first  the  Hottentot;  then,  by 
gradual  improvement,  into  the  finished 
European  style.  How  reconcile  with  this 
view  the  spiritual  type  su2)posed  to  be  dis- 
tinctive of  human  kind  ?  with  the  imaire 
of  God  man's  special  and  distinguishing 
privilege  ? 

It  will  be  long,  I  suspect,  before  this 
view  universally  prevails ;  before  it  takes 
the  character  and  mnk  of  scientific  certain- 
ty. Some  of  the  greatest  names  in  science 
are  found  in  opposition  to  it ;  among  them 
our  own  Agassiz,  the  fundamental  idea  of 
whose  view  of  nature  it  contradicts.  One 
is  sometimes  tempted  to  think  that  the 
transformation  may  have  been  the  other 
way,  —  a  change  of  type  from  human  to 
simian,  —  tliat  the  monkey  may  be  a  cor- 
ruj^tion  of  human  nature  sunk  by  moral 


MA?^   IX   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


31 


and  intellectual  degeneracy  into  that  too 
faithful  caricature.  A  Mussulman  legend 
recounts  the  metamorphosis  of  certain 
mockers  who,  jeering  at  Moses  and  his 
teachings,  were  turned  into  apes,  and  in 
that  condition  continued  to  jeer  and  chat- 
ter ever  after.  There  are  tendencies  in 
man  of  which  the  a]ie  may  be  regarded 
as  the  fit  expression  and  consummation ; 
and  none  more  justly  so  than  mocking  at 
truth,  the  great  and  serious  truths  of  hu- 
manity. If  anything  can  make  an  ape  of 
a  man  it  is  that. 

But  suppose  the  Development-theory,  so 
called,  could  be  established  on  scientific 
and  indisi^utable  grounds,  there  is  nothing 
in  that  theory  at  which  theology  need  be 
alarmed.  What  the  naturalist  means  by 
man  in  this  connection  is  one  thing,  what 
the  Bible  means  is  another.  The  one  is 
speaking  of  the  animal  man,  the  other  of 
the  moral  and  spiritual.  Grant  that  the 
human  animal  developed  itself  by  gradual 
ascent  and  modification  from  the  lower 
orders  of  animal  life,  it  does  not  follow  I 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


32 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


that  the  human  soul  developed  itself  from 
the  brute.  There  must  still  have  been  a 
time,  —  if  man  at  this  day  is  anything 
more  than  the  highest  animal,  —  there 
must  have  been  a  time  when  a  human 
soul,  with  its  characteristic  attributes  and 
belongings,  was  first  lodged  in  that  animal 
frame,  when  the  heavenly  was  first  wedded 
to  the  eartldy.  There  must  still  have  been 
a  first  man,  in  the  Bible  sense ;  and  that 
first  man  was  a  new  creation,  a  creation 
bearing  the  image  of  God. 

And  what  are  we  to  understand  by 
"  the  image  of  God "  ?  Was  the  writer 
thinking  of  the  human  form,  so  far  tran- 
scending all  other  forms  of  animated  na- 
ture in  beauty,  dignity,  variety  of  adapta- 
tion, in  extent  of  function  and  organic 
endowment,  as  to  justify  the  poet's  phrase, 
"  the  human  form  divine  "  ?  Did  he  sup- 
pose tliat  God,  like  his  creatures,  must  ex- 
ist in  a  bodily  shape,  and  having  conceived 
the  Creator  invested  with  a  human  form, 
did  he  mean  to  say  tliat  the  Deity  con- 
ferred his  own  form  upon  man  ?   I  believe 


MAX   IX   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


33 


tliat  something  more  and  better  was  in- 
tended by  this  expression.  It  meant  in 
the  tliought  of  the  liistorian  what  we  un- 
derstand by  that  phrase,  —  a  spiritual  sim- 
ilitude. Man  in  his  original  radical  idea, 
man  as  spirit,  is  divine.  This  is  the  im- 
port of  tlie  saying,  "  God  created  man  in 
his  own  image." 

The  Bible  contains  no  truth  more  pro- 
found. And  the  Bible  alone,  of  ancient 
writings,  contains  it,  or  expresses  it,  I 
think,  with  such  distinctness.  The  wis- 
dom which  inspired  these  pages,  in  all  the 
annals  of  ancient  wisdom,  alone  enunciates 
in  adequate  terms  this  great  intuition.  We 
repeat  the  commonplace,  and  think  it  so 
obvious  that  all  men  in  all  time  must 
needs  have  perceived  it.  But  what  fet- 
ichist  or  polytheist  in  that  age  perceived 
or  said  it  ?  And  the  world  was  filled  with 
such  when  these  Scriptures  were  written. 
How  many  even  now  perceive  the  full  sig- 
nificance that  lies  in  it  ? 

Man  in  the  image  of  God !    "Wliere  in 
human  converse  does  that  image  appear  ? 

2* 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


34 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Ima'^e  of 

God. 


Look  at  man  in  some  aspects,  and  he  seems 
more  removed  from  all  divine  similitnde 
than  even  the  brute.  See  him  the  victim 
of  coarse  animal  passions,  besotted  with 
gluttony  and  drink;  see  him  wallowing 
in  lust  or  rabid  with  greed  of  gain,  raven- 
ous, cruel,  grasping,  oppressing,  destroy- 
ing. Will  any  one  pretend  that  a  crea- 
ture like  this  is  made  in  the  image  of 
God  ?  Certainly  not,  for  the  creature  so 
described  is  not  man.  In  such  cases  the 
animal  has  overlaid  and  concealed,  and 
even  for  the  time  suppressed  the  man. 
That  slave  of  appetite  and  passion,  that 
grovelling  sensualist,  that  persecutor  and 
destroyer,  is  a  human  animal,  not  a  spirit- 
ual nature,  of  which  alone  the  divine  sim- 
ilitude is  predicated.  The  true  human  in 
him  is  not  yet  apparent,  is  not  yet  devel- 
oped, is  dormant  and  dead.  The  doctrine 
is,  not  that  men  as  we  find  them,  but  that 
man  in  his  idea,  is  divine.  That  divine 
man  is  embodied  in  a  human  animal ;  it 
is  the  necessary  form  of  his  earthly  life, 
the  medium  by  which  he  converses  with 


MAN   IN   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


35 


the  world  of  sense  in  wdiich  he  is  tempo- 
rarily immersed.  In  the  genuine  man  the 
spirit  so  possesses,  informs,  and  commands 
the  animal  that  nothing  obscures  the  di- 
vine image ;  it  shines  distinctly  and  vic- 
toriously through.  But  often  the  animal 
is  developed  at  the  expense  of  the  spirit- 
ual, it  supplants  the  spiritual ;  the  image 
of  God  is  obscured,  suppressed. 

*  On  the  strength  of  such  examples  theo- 
losfians  have  affirmed  human  nature  itself 
to  be  godless  and  corrupt,  as  if  human  na- 
ture were  truly  represented  in  those  exam- 
ples. No  representation  of  human  nature 
can  be  regarded  as  legitimate  wdiich  does 
not  express  the  original  idea  of  man.  He 
only  in  whom  the  spiritual  has  gained  the 
ascendency  over  the  animal  and  holds  it 
in  subjection,  he  only  with  whom  the  di- 
vine purpose,  perceived  or  surmised,  is  the 
rule  of  life,  exhibits  the  image  of  God  in 
his  person.     Only  he  is  truly  man. 

Society,  as  now  constituted,  bears  not 
that  image,  —  as  a  whole,  is  far  from  di- 
vine.   And  vet  if  we  search  for  it  in  frank- 


Chap.  11. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


36 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

lmas;e  of 

God. 


ness  and  sincerity,  how  much  that  is  truly 
divine  we  shall  find  in  the  present  and  in 
every  past  age  of  society.    How  much  of 
disinterested  benevolence,  how  much  of 
genuine,   unadultemted    love,   how   much 
of  self-sacrificing  devotion,  how  many  he- 
roes, patriots,  martyrs,  who  have  offered 
up  their  lives  for  the  right !     Society  as 
we  have  it  is  composed  of  steep  contra- 
dictions.    Side  by  side  with  the  hellish 
atrocities  of  war  we  have  itS  heaven-born 
charities.      The    "Sanitary   Commission," 
with  its  tender  solace,  follows  in  the  steps 
of  Carnage.     Tender  and  delicate  women, 
bred  in  the  lap  of  luxury,  renounce  their 
pleasant  homes  and  take  upon  themselves 
the  office  of  nurses,  breathing  the  infected 
air  of  hospitals,  watching  at  the  bedside 
of  loathsome  disease.     Side  by  side  with 
the  haunts  of  vice,  the   abomination   of 
cities,  we  have  houses  of  prayer   reared 
by  tlie  spirit  of  piety,  sacred  to  faitli  and 
the  purest  aspirations  of  the  soul.     Such 
are    tlie   contradictions   of   which   life   is 
made  up.     It  is  a  tale  of  sharp  contrasts 


MAN    IN   THE   IMAGE   OF   GOD. 


37 


and  huge  discrepancies,  of  godlike  vir- 
tues and  hellish  crimes.  But  who  will 
say  that  the  nobler  part 'and  product  in 
these  contrasts  is  not  as  genuine  a  mani- 
festation of  human  nature  as  the  baser 
and  infernal  ?  I  say  it  is  the  truer  and 
more  legitimate  manifestation  of  the  two. 
I  say,  this  is  legitimate  and  that  is  not. 
These  charities  and  pieties  are  the  normal 
products  of  human  nature,  those  vices  and 
atrocities,  spifrious  and  abnormal.  Man  is 
truly  himself  in  the  one  and  is  not  him- 
self, but "  beside  liimself,"  in  the  other,  ^o 
theologian  is  autliorized  to  point  to  those 
offences  as  the  real  human,  and  to  found 
his  doctrine  of  human  nature  upon  them. 
The  real  convictions  of  men,  the  spon- 
taneous unbiassed  convictions  of  the  race, 
are  embodied  in  their  speech.  "We  have 
the  word.  Humane.  It  means  the  same 
as  human,  that  wliich  is  agreeable  to  the 
nature  of  man.  And  it  means  also  merci- 
ful, pitiful,  loving,  kind,  —  qualities  con- 
formed to  the  nature  of  God,  of  whom 
these  are  distinguishing  attributes.     We 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


38 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


ti     Chap.  II. 


Man  in  the 

Imas;e  of 

God. 


have,  then,  the  testimony  of  language  that 
what  is  peculiarly  and  emphatically  hu- 
man is  also  divine. 

And  we  have  in  the  Christian  records 
the  testimony  of  finished  humanity.  The 
appearance  of  a  character  like  Jesus  in 
our  human  world  is  a  reaffirmation  of  the 
truth  of  the  old  Hebrew  saying,  that  man 
was  made  in  the  image  of  God,  a  proof 
that  the  innermost,  original  nature  of  man 
is  divine,  that  to  be  truly  human  is  to  be 
one  with  God. 

This  is  the  idea  which  underlies   the 
Church  dogma  of  the  Incarnation,  thouo-h 
not  the  meaning  which  the  popular  theol- 
ogy attaches  to  that  doctrine.     The  feel- 
ing which  prompted  the  decision  of  the 
Church   in   shaping   its   christology,   was 
that  human  nature  can  only  be  redeemed 
from  sin  by  actual  contact  with  Godhead. 
How  to  bridge  the  gulf  between  God  and 
man  was  the  problem  which  the  Cliurcli 
proposed  to  itself.     In  the  animal  kin<.'- 
doni  we  perceive  a  regular  gradation  in  de- 
scending series  through  the  simice,  through 


MAN  IN   THE   IMAGE    OF   GOD. 


39 


k 


the  mammals,  through  the  vertebrates,  ser- 
pents, molluscs,  medusa?,  down  to  the  infu- 
soria, the  rhizopod,  or  whatever  may  be  the 
lowest  term  and  extreme  limit  of  animat- 
ed nature.  But  tlie  spiritual  kingdom, 
as  conceived  by  the  Church,  had  no  such 
continuity ;  the  series  was  broken,  a  link 
was  missing  between  man  and  God.  Push 
your  scale  up  as  far  as  you  may  through 
the  heavenly  principalities,  from  angel  to 
archangel,  still  the  higliest  finite  is  a  crea- 
ture, it  had  a  beginning ;  between  it  and 
the  uncreated  tliere  is  a  gulf  which  the 
act  of  creation  does  not  bridge.  To  meet 
this  difficulty  the  Church  for  "creation" 
said  "  generation."  Tlie  "  Son  "  was  gen- 
erated, and  that  from  eternity,  and  so  par- 
takes of  tlie  substance  of  Godhead,  and, 
being  incarnated  in  a  human  individual, 
communicates  that  nature  to  man.  Thus 
the  atonement  is  accomplislied  between 
the  human  and  divine ;  man  is  reunited  to 
God.  I  shall  not  stop  to  point  out  the 
logical  inadequacy  of  tliis  theory  which 
required  the  audacious  doctrine  of  Tran- 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

linage  of 

God. 


40 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


substantiation  to  carry  out  its  principle. 
It  suffices  to  say  that  if  the  Cliurch  liad 
understood  and  duly  considered  tlie  mean- 
ing of  tliese  words,  "  God  created  man  in 
his    own    image,"    this    elabomte    theory 
would   have  been   superfluous.      God  by 
liis  image  in  man  is  in  virtual   contact 
with  all  in  whom  that  image  lives.     Man 
fell,  man  falls,  the  image  is  dimmed,  over- 
laid, but  not  erased.     It  needs  to  be  re- 
vived, and  when  revived,  man  is  once  more 
in  union  and  communion  with  God.     God 
with  man  and  in  mail,  so  far  as  he  is  spir- 
itual, that  is  the  real  import  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Incarnation.     Christ  as  the  "  Son 
of  Man  "  is  the  type  of  genuine  humanity. 
He  is  the  "  second  man,"  as  Adam  is  the 
first,  tlie  representative  of  the  real  spir- 
itual, as  Adam  is  of  the  possible.    Not  less 
human  than  Adam,  because  more  divine, 
but  the  more  so  on  that  account.     Adam 
represents  humanity  in  its  earlier,  tran- 
sient phase,  Christ  represents  it  in  its  es- 
sential, eternal  nature.     The  second  man 
is  more  human  than  the  first,  Christ  more 


m 


MAN   IN   THE   IMAGE    OF   GOD. 


human  than  Adam.  And  "as  in  Adam 
all  die,"  as  the  earthly  nature  is  perishing, 
"  so  in  Christ  all  are  made  alive  "  ;  the  di- 
vine in  man  is  eternal.  Christ  reaffirms 
in  his  life  what  the  old  Scri^^ture  had  af- 
firmed in  words,  —  that  man  is  the  image 
of  God,  that  in  human  nature  God  sees 
himself  and  expresses  liimseK  as  in  no 
other  creature. 

If  man  is  the  image  of  God,  it  follows 
not  only  that  man  —  the  spiritual  man  — 
is  divine,  but  also  that  God  is  human.  All 
creation  is  the  realization  of  divine  ideas, 
the  going  forth  of  God  from  the  secret  of 
inscrutable  Being  in  self-reflecting,  self- 
manifesting  action.  The  last  step  in  this 
process  of  divine  self  -  manifestation  is 
man,  in  whom  above  all  created  natures 
the  Creator  realizes  his  Godhead.  There 
is  no  step  between  God  and  man  that  is 
not  virtually  included  in  human  nature. 
All  we  can  ever  know  of  the  divine  must 
be  through  the  human.  Whatever  ])vo- 
cess  may  await  us  in  the  far  future,  to 
whatsoever  height  of  being  and  of  action 


41 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


H\ 


42 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  II. 

Man  in  the 

Image  of 

God. 


the  spirit  may  attain  when  this  mortal 
shall  have  put  on  immortality,  we  can 
come  no  nearer  to  God  than  man.  We 
can  approach  him  only  through  perfected 
humanity,  and  all  we  can  ever  add  to  our 
knowledge  of  his  nature  will  be  derived 
from  successive  developments  of  our  own. 
We  may  hope  to  see  God,  in  the  great 
hereafter,  if  we  are  in  the  line  of  ascend- 
ing spirits  who  put  off  the  defilements  of 
earth  and  cast  death  and  hell  beneath 
them  as  they  rise ;  but  not  as  an  object 
external  to  ourselves.  We  shall  see  him 
as  the  pure  in  heart  see  him, —  in  the  mir- 
ror of  their  purity,  in  perfect  emancipa- 
tion from  self,  in  ever-growing  holiness, 
in  ever-expanding  love.  We  commune 
wdtli  him,  not  by  going  out  of  ourselves, 
but  by  sinking  deeper  and  deeper  within. 
Deep  in  the  centre  of  every  heart  he  has 
stamped  and  imaged  and  planted  himself, 
and  when  we  most  truly  possess  ourselves 
we  are  nearest  to  God. 


tt 


V 


III. 


MAN    IN    PARADISE. 


I' 


MAX    IX    PARADISE. 


45 


\  i 


MAN  IN  PARADISE. 

"  And  the  Lord  God  took  the  man  and  put  him  into 
the  garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  keep  it,"  —  Gene- 
sis ii.  15. 

It  has  long  been  a  matter  of  debate  be- 
tween ethnologists  and  theologians  whether 
primitive  man  was  intellectually  mature 
or  rudely  ignorant.  Did  the  species  start 
from  the  lowest  plain  of  human  existence, 
but  one  remove  from  the  brute,  or  begin 
its  career  at  that  advanced  point  of  intel- 
ligence and  faculty  which  now  distin- 
guishes the  fully  developed  civilized  man 
from  the  human  animal  ? 

Ethnology  reasoning  from  analogy  adopts 
the  former  view ;  maintains  that  the  race 
commenced  in  ignorance  and  brutaUty  and 
advanced  step  by  step  from  the  lowest 
grade  to  the  highest  yet  attained,  —  from 
cannibalism  up  to  European  and  Anglo - 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


i 


46 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IIL 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


American  civilization.  Tlieology,  on  the 
contrary,  infers  from  tlie  Bible  that'  man 
was  created  intellectually  and  sj)iritually 
mature,  and  not  only  mature,  but  (accord- 
ing to  some  theologians)  perfect,  with  fac- 
ulties as  far  exceeding  anything  witnessed 
in  subsequent  time  as  the  highest  devel- 
opments known  to  us  exceed  the  rudeness 
of  savage  life. 

We  have  no  sufficient  data  as  yet  to  es- 
tablish a  conclusive  decision  of  this  ques- 
tion, which  is  somewhat  involved  in  the 
previous  question  whether  human  kind 
originated  from  a  single  pair  or  from  sev- 
eral independent  centres.  On  the  suppo- 
sition of  a  single  origin  of  the  human  race 
the  latter  theory  fails  to  explain  the  pres- 
ent existence  of  savage  races,  which  in 
that  case  are  intelligible  only  as  wrecks  of 
extinct  civilizations.  But,  if  we  suppose  a 
various  origin  from  independent  centres, 
the  theory  of  a  rude  beginning  encounters 
a  serious  difficulty  in  the  fact  that  such  a 
progress  as  is  claimed  from  the  rudest  con- 
dition of  man  to  the  highest  is  not  sub- 


MAN   m   PARADISE. 


47 


stantiated  by  ethnological  observation  of 
existing  races.  For,  though  it  is  true  that 
the  most  civilized  races  of  to-day  have 
passed  through  a  period  of  comparative 
barbarism,  it  is  also  true  that  their  civil- 
ization is  the  growth  of  a  graft  from  a  for- 
eign stock,  and  that  the  savage  races  of 
to-day  refuse  that  graft  and  die  out  when 
broudit  in  close  contact  with  civilized  na- 
tions. 

On.  the  other  hand,  theology  certainly 
errs  in  its  view  of  original  man,  as  inferred 
from  the  Book  of  Genesis.  The  condition 
of  Adam  in  Paradise  is  not  represented  as 
one  of  perfection,  but  simply  as  one  of 
moral  innocence.  In  fact,  this  question, 
like  so  many  others  which  the  learned 
debate,  is  a  question  but  of  words  and 
names.  The  two  parties  are  discussing 
diffi3rent  things,  the  one  the  beginnings 
of  a  zoological  species,  the  other  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  human  family.  The  aim 
of  the  Biblical  narrative  is  to  paint  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  human  family,  —  not  the 
human  animal,  but  man  so  far  developed 


Chap.  IIL 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


48 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


);' 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


as  to  be  susceptive  of  moral  ideas  and 
subject  to  the  moral  law.  We  may  sup- 
pose as  many  ages  as  science  requires,  or 
conjectures,  between  the  first  of  tlie  hu- 
man species  and  the  Adam  of  Genesis 
without  doing  violence  to  the  s^mY  of  the 
story,  although  the  letter  seems  certainly 
to  identify  the  two.  Granting  that  the  hu- 
man species  began  in  savage  ignorance,  it  is 
none  the  less  true  that  human  society  began 
at  a  certain  advanced  stage  of  intellectual 
development.  And  this  beginning  of  soci- 
ety— the  beginning  of  humanity  proper  — 
it  is  which  Hebrew  tradition  contemplates. 
We  assume,  then,  for  man  in  Eden  that 
point  in  the  progress  of  human  develop- 
ment—  preceded,  it  may  be,  by  ages  of 
mere  animality  —  at  wliich  our  historic 
progenitors  began  to  be  capable  of  moral 
agency  and  capable  of  social  union.  By 
Adam  in  Eden  we  will  understand  the 
beginning  of  human  society.  The  date 
of  that  beginning  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
termine. The  learned,  however,  are  agreed 
that  the  scale  of  Mosaic  chronology  is  too 


1'!^ 


.1 


MAN  IN   PARADISE. 


contracted  to  accommodate  the  historic 
process  imi:)lied  in  it,  and  that  thousands 
of  years  must  be  added  to  the  Biblical 
conception  of  the  age  of  man. 

As  to  the  whereabouts ;  the  locality  of 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  first  experiment 
of  social  life,  is  a  question  of  easier  solu- 
tion.    Tlie  region  indicated  in  the  book 
of  Genesis,  provided  it  can  be  geograph- 
ically verified  as  an  actual  section  of  the 
earth's  surface,  is  the  answer  to  tliis  ques- 
tion, —  an  answer  in  wliich  historic  tradi- 
tion and  philosophic  conjecture  will  prob- 
ably be  found  to  coincide  with  Biblical 
lore.     There   is  some  difficulty,  however, 
in   ascertaining    the    jDrecise    locality   in- 
tended in  the  narrative.      The  region  is 
thus  defined  in  the  text :  — 

"  And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden  to  water 
the  garden :  and  from  thence  it  was  parted 
and  became  into  four  heads.  The  name  of 
the  first  is  Pison:  that  is  it  which  com- 
passeth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah  where 
there  is  gold ;  and  the  gold  of  that  land 
is  good  [or  pure] :  there  is  bdellium  and 


49 


Chap.  IIL 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


50 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


MAX   IN   PARADISE. 


51 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


the  onyx-stone.    And  the  name  of  the  sec- 
ond river  is  Gihon :  the  same  is  it  that 
compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia. 
And  the  name  of  the  third  river  is  Hidde- 
kel :  that  is  it  which  goeth  toward  the  east 
of  Assyria.     And  the  fourth  river  is  Eu- 
phrates."*    Interpreted  according  to  the 
letter,  this  statement  certainly  defines  no 
terrestrial  locality.     A  description  which 
brings  into  one  view,  as  parts  of  one  ter- 
ritory, Assyria. and  a  province  of  South 
Arabia  (for  such  is  the  Havilah  of  Scrip- 
ture), and  which  makes  the  Euphrates  the 
confluent  of  a  river  of  Ethiopia,  is  alto- 
gether useless  as  a  topographical  guide  to 
any  actual  portion  of  the  earth's  surface. 
Accordingly,  this  description  of  Paradise 
has   been   transferred   by   modern   critics 
from  the  region  of  geography  to  that  of 
poetry.     But  when  we  consider  that  two 
of  the  rivers  here  indicated  are  actual  geo- 
graphical rivers,  the  Euphrates  and  the  Ti- 
gris, _  Hiddekel  being  the  Hebrew  name 

*  The  following  geographical  criticism  is  from  Bun- 
sen's  "  Bibehverk." 


1 


of  the  latter  river,  —  and  that  these  two 
are  neighbors  and  confluents,  as  liere  rep- 
resented, and  further  that  the  Tigris,  as 
here  stated,  is  in  near  relation  with  Assv- 
ria,  —  not  indeed  to  the  east  of,  but,  ac- 
cording to  another  rendering  of  the  words, 
before  *  Assyria,  i.  e.  before  coming  to  As- 
sjrria;  —  when  we  consider  this  fact,  the 
presumption  is  that  the  writer  intended  to 
describe  an  actual  region  of  the  globe.  A 
mixture  of  geographical  with  merely  ideal 
localities  is  a  very  improbable  supposition. 
The  problem  of  constructive  criticism  is,  if 
possible,  by  a  new  analysis  of  the  terms 
employed,  to  reconcile  with  this  geograph- 
ical position  those  parts  of  the  statement 
which  seem  to  conflict  with  it.  This  prob- 
lem has  been  attempted  in  our  day  with 
apparent  success.  Eecent  investigation 
finds  in  the  Pison  and  Gihon  of  the  text 
two  rivers  belonging  to  the  same  region 
with  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates.  Pison 
is  identified  with  the  river  Phasis,  which 

*  Namely,  to  one  living  west  of  that  river,  say  in 
Mesopotamia,  in  which  region  the  tradition  is  supposed 
to  have  originated.     See  Bunsen,  in  loco. 


Chap.  IIL 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


^gffm 


52 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


empties  into  the  Eiixine  and  Gihon  witli 
the  river  Araxes,  which  empties  into  the 
Caspian.  Havilah  is  found  to  he  Colchis, 
the  celebrated  gold-land  of  the  ancients  ; 
and  the  Hebrew  name  for  Ethiopia;  — 
CksJi,  by  a  slight  change  in  the  sj)elling, 
becomes  Cus  (Cusssei  or  Cossa^i),  the  name 
of  an  ancient  people  inhabiting  a  part  of 
the  territory  of  Media. 

According  to  these  determinations,  the 
Eden  of  Scripture  was  situated  in  the  high- 
lands of  Armenia,  in  what  is  now  a  portion 
of  Turkey,  between  the  Caucasas  and  the 
Euphrates.  An  Aryan  tradition,  wholly  in- 
dependent of  the  Hebrew,  refers  the  origin 
of  the  Aryan  family  to  a  region  directly 
east  of  this,  which  it  characterizes  *  as  the 
land  of  purity,  the  original  gift  of  (Ormuzd) 
the  Good  Spirit,  whose  enemy  (Ahriman), 
the  Principal  of  Evil,  creator  of  the  Ser- 
pent, changed  the  climate  of  this  region 
of  delight,  and  compelled  the  fathers  to 
wander  forth  from  their  early  home.f 

*  "  Bihehverk,"  Vol.  V.  pp.  40,  47. 

t  "  In  the  midst  of  this  region,"  says  Bunsen,  "  the 


MAN    IN    PARADISE. 


53 


Fact  and  allegory  are  so  blended  in 
these  records  that  criticism  cannot  always 
distinguish  between  them.  It  is  not  easy 
to  disentangle  tlie  historic  thread  of  pri- 
meval tradition  from  its  mythical  accom- 
paniment. The  story  of  the  Fall  is  best 
understood  as  pure  allegory,  but  the  sceiie 
of  that  Fall,  the  Eden  of  Scripture,  —  that 
is,  a  beginning  of  human  society  in  the 
region  here  indicated,  and  under  auspices 
fitly  expressed  by  the  word  "  garden,"  —  I 
believe  to  be  essentially  historical.  Other 
nations  have  similar  traditions.  Greek  and 
Eoman  Avriters  tell  of  a  Golden  Age  of  in- 
nocence, when  men  lived  happily,  subsist- 
ing on  the  free  and  spontaneous  bounty 
of  nature,  when  greed  of  gain  was  not, 
and  violence  and  strife  had  no  place  or 
part  in  human  life.  Indian,  Persian,  Egyp- 
tian antiquity  discovers  traces  of  a  like 
faith,  which  can  only  be  explained,  or  is 

naturalists  of  our  time  have  discovered  traces  of  a  great 
and  comparatively  recent  convulsion,  the  consequence 
of  which  was  the  formation  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and 
the  desert  character  of  a  large  portion  of  the  neighbor- 
ing land." 


Chap.  III. 

Matt  in 
Paradise. 


54 


PKIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


best  explained,  by  a  corresponding  verity. 
Philosophy  may  dispute  the  tradition  as 
a  past  reality,  may  reject  it  as  a  fact  of 
history,  but  philosophy  loves  to  contem- 
plate the  idea  as  a  fmal  result,  as  the 
consummation  of  the  earthly  life.  Phi- 
lo'sophy  loves  to  occupy  itself  with  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  that 
is,  with  a  scheme  of  society  purged  of  the 
evils  that  infest  the  present  and  have 
plagued  all  former  time;  a  state  where 
violence  and  fraud  shall  no  more  molest 
and  wars  shall  cease,  where  the  law  of 
love  shall  reign  supreme  and  shed  eternal 
sunshine  on  the  soul ;  a  commonwealth  of 
regenerate  and  perfected  humanity,  a  par- 
adise of  innocence  and  peace.  The  Golden 
Age,  philosophers  have  said,  belongs  to  the 
future,  not  to  the  past ;  Eden  is  before  us, 
not  behind,  not  a  loss  to  be  deplored,  but 
a  possibility  for  wliich  we  are  to  strive. 

This  we  may  accept  as  the  moral  of  the 
story.  It  is  true  that  what  the  Garden  of 
Eden  imports  to  us  is  not  a  loss,  but  an 
aspiration   and   a   hope.     Not  sorrow  for 


i 


IVIAN   IN   PARADISE. 


55 


the  past,  but  a  motive  for  the  future,  is  the 
lesson  taught  by  this  ancient  tale.  What- 
ever has  been  may  be  again,  and  if,  far 
away  in  the  earliest  past,  beyond  the 
reach  of  contemporary  records,  known 
only  to  dim  tradition,  there  existed  a 
state  of  society  in  which  man  was  better 
and  more  blest  than  now,  in  harmony 
with  nature  and  at  peace  with  himself, 
unvexed  with  care  and  untrammelled  by 
sin,  his  bread  sufficient,  his  being  secure, 
and  all  his  faculties  and  passions  in  tune, 
then  we  may  hope  that  far  away  in  the 
long  and  unsearchable  future,  when  civil- 
ization shall  have  finished  its  course  and 
divine  education  accomplished  its  work, 
the  time  will  return  of  that  blest  estate 
when  life  shall  be  free  and  humanity 
true,  and  Eden  re-establish  itself  with 
firmer  conditions  and  a  better  hope, — 
an  Eden  based  on  insight  instead  of  in- 
stinct, with  the  wisdom  of  all  time  for  its 
illumination  and  all  himian  experience  for 
its  guide. 

Eeading  the  story  in  this  light,  we  say 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


56 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


MAN    IN   PARADISE. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


that  a  Garden  is  the  destined  abode  of 
civilized  man.     It  will  be  the  last  as  it 
was  the  primeval  estate.     By  a  garden  I 
mean  cultivated  and  transfigured  nature. 
There   exists   a   relation   between   nature 
and  man  which  rightly  understood,  and  re- 
alized in  corresponding  institutions,  makes 
earth  a  garden.     At  present  the  life  of 
man  is  far  from  expressing  this  relation. 
A  false  civilization,  founded  in  selfish  pas- 
sions, has  estmnged  man  from  nature,  and 
that  estrangement  has  increased  with  the 
progress  of  society.     Among  the  bad  re- 
sults of  this  estrangement  we  may  reckon 
the  existence  of  crowded  cities,  and  the 
sickly  and  vicious  life  which  they  engen- 
der.    Moral  and  physical  disorders  have 
multiplied  as  population  concentrated  it- 
self in  certain  localities.     A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  crimes  which  infest  society  are 
the  necessary  offspring  of  this  unnatural 
life.     Civilization  is  nature  developed.     A 
healthy  civilization  is  nature  developed  to 
a  point  where  each  individual  enjoys  the 
full  exercise  of  all  his  faculties,  and  where 


57 


the  wants  of  one  part  of  tlie  community  do 
not  corrupt  and  enslave  the  rest.  If,  as 
we  are  told,  the  savage  is  not  the  natural 
state  of  man,  neither  is  the  life  of  crowded 
cities  the  natural  state.  The  true  state  is 
equally  remote  from  either  of  these  ex- 
tremes. It  is  one  in  which  man  is  in 
right  relations  with  nature  and  in  which  >■ 
I  brute  nature  has  been  regenerated  by  hu- 

P  man  art  and  made  to  bring  forth  ampler 

fruits  and  nobler  than  it  yields  in  its  pri- 
mal state.  Such,  we  may  suppose,  will 
be  the  condition  of  perfected  man,  —  a  re- 
production of  the  garden  life.  Consum- 
mate culture  will  return  to  nature,  and 
return  to  nature  will  give  Eden.  What- 
ever is  false  and  degrading  in  civilization 
will  be  done  away,  its  fearful  inequalities, 
the  disproportion  of  labor  and  compensa- 
tion, the  dear-bought  luxury  of  the  few, 
the  ill-requited  service  of  the  many,  and 
all  the  crimes  and  distresses  which  spring 
from  abject  povert}^  on  the  one  hand  and 
inordinate  wealth  on  the  other.  Man  will 
live  nearer  to  nature,  there  will  be  a  rela- 

3* 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


58 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


MAN   IN    PARADISE. 


59 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


tion  of  reciprocal  service  between  them; 
according  as  lie  renders  he  will  receive, 
according  to  his  use  will  be  his  posses- 
sion. 

For  observe,  that  man  was  commanded 
"to   dress   and  to   keep   the  garden"  in 
which  he  was  placed.     The   Paradise  of 
tradition  was  not  a  state  of  passive,  un- 
conditional enjoyment,  nor  will  any  future 
paradise  be  such.     Man  will  never  know 
an  Eden  consisting  in  exemption  from  la- 
bor.    Labor  is  not  an  accident  of  this  our 
present  imperfect  state,  but  a  law  of  man's 
nature  which  no  change  of  circumstance 
and  no  amount  of  culture  can  ever  abol- 
ish.   Labor  is  needful,  not  only  as  a  means 
of  support,  but  also  and  more  as  a  means 
of  education.     We  must  labor  not  merely 
because  we  have  animal  wants  to  be  sup- 
plied, but  because  we  have  mental  facul- 
ties to  be  developed  and  perfected.     But 
all  labor  is  not  equally  conducive  to  this 
end.     The  labor  enforced  by  necessity,  the 
irksome  toil  for  needful  bread,  is  compara- 
tively, barren  of  moral  advantage.     That 


// 


labor  only  is  truly  profitable  to  which  the 
laborer  is   prompted  by  free  choice  and 
for  which  the  enjoyment  he  finds  in  it 
is  itself  the  best  compensation.     At  pres- 
ent the  greater  part  of  man's  labor  has 
no  end   but  daily  bread.      The   majority 
are  doomed  to  lifelong  tasks  for  the  bare 
support  of  animal  life.     This  is  not  the 
true  idea  of  man,  nor  the  true  destina- 
tion of  human  kind.     Labor  in  a  perfected 
state  will  have  other  objects  than  meat 
and  drink.      It  has  been  computed  that 
four  hours  a  day  of  weU-directed  effort 
from  all  who  are  capable  of  labor  would 
be  sufficient  for  the  animal  wants  of  the 
race.     When  those  wants  have  been  sup- 
plied, if  ever  that  better  state  shall  arrive, 
the  end  of  labor  wiU  not  be  private  gain'  I 
but  the  common  good ;  not  to  acquire  for 
the  sake  of  acquiring,  but  to  create  for 
the  sake  of  creating,  to  dress  and  keep 
the  garden,  not  to  monopolize  and  gor- 
mandize its  fruits.     Each  individual  wiU 
find  the  sphere  and  the  function  to  which 
he  is  adapted  by  his  peculiar  gift.     His 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


60 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


work  will  no  longer  be  an  irksome  task 
imposed  by  hard  necessity,  but  an  art 
which  he  prosecutes  for  its  own  sake  and 
the  general  good.  He  will  labor  as  God 
labors,  not  in  drudgery  but  in  sport,  not 
in  the  spirit  of  bondage  but  in  the  spirit 
of  love,  from  the  free  determination  of 
an  active  nature  which  seeks  to  unfold 
and  to  manifest  itself  in  endless  produc- 
tion. 

Will  man  in  Eden  have  private  posses- 
sions, or  will  all  things  be  common  to  all  ? 
Property,  so  far  as  it  represents  the  indi- 
vidual and  proportionate  labor  of  the  own- 
er, is  a  natural  right,  a  thing  that  must 
always  be,  because  eternally  fit.  Property 
otherwise  acquired  is  booty,  and  must  pass 
away  with  other  injustices.  As  society  is 
now  constituted,  the  origin  of  property  is 
partly  labor  and  partly  the  act  of  the 
stronger.  The  superior  strength  may  act 
as  force  or  as  capital ;  the  principle  is  the 
same.  Such  is  the  property  claimed  and 
allowed  by  human  laws  in  untilled  and 
unoccupied  lands.     The  earth  is  the  prod- 


MAN   IN   PARADISE. 


61 


uct  of  no   man's  industry  except  as  re- 
claimed and  improved  by  toil.     The  nat- 
ural right  of  man  covers  only  so  much  of 
tlie   earth's  surface    as   he   actually  uses. 
What  is  over  and  above  this  is  directly  or 
indirectly  the  product  of  force.     All  prop- 
erty in  unoccupied  land,  wlien  traced  to 
the  first  claimant,  will  be  found  to  have 
its  origin  in  forcible  seizure  on  the  part 
of  some   government   or   chartered   com- 
pany, which,  having  first  usurped,  under- 
takes to  dispose  of  the  earth  as  if  it  were 
a  product  of  their  own  creation.     In  this 
way  the  territory  of  this  continent  was 
seized   and   disposed   of  by  governments 
which  had  no  more  right  to  the  soil  than 
they  had  to  the  people  who  dwelt  in  it. 
The  whole  system  of  landed  property  rests 
on  the  assumption  tliat  might  makes  right. 
But  waiving  this  point,  tlie  great  dispari- 
ties of  human  life  are  due  to  the  facility 
with  wliich,  in  the  present  state  of  society, 
one  class  of  men  can  avail  themselves  of 
the  labors  of  another  class  without  ade- 
quate compensation.     The  earth  is  wide 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


62 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


enough  and  rich  enough  for  all  who  live 
in.it.  If  conventional  right  were  identical 
with  natural  right,  if  no  one  could  appro- 
priate more  of  the  earth's  products  than 
he  can  use,  then  each  might  appropriate 
as  much  as  he  requires,  and  none  would 
suffer  need.  Instead  of  pining  with  want, 
or  earning  a  scanty  subsistence  by  ill-paid 
toil,  as  is  now  the  case  with  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  human  family,  all  might 
live,  as  God  intended,  a  free  and  honored 
life. 

Undoubtedly  the  present  system  has  its 
uses.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  crowded 
and  struggling  life  which  man  now  leads 
has  served  to  develop  the  uttermost  re- 
sources of  matter  and  of  mind,  and  thus 
to  prepare  the  way  for  that  better  state 
which  shall  blend  in  one  all  that  nature 
confers  with  all  that  art  creates,— the  sim- 
plicity of  Eden  witli  the  last  results  of 
civilized  life.  Nevertheless,  it  is  certain 
that  the  present  system  is  not  to  be  per- 
petual. No  rational  person  who  considers 
the   enormous  injustice  of  the  presently 


MAN   IN   PARADISE. 


63 


existing  social  order,  the  bondage,  the  ig- 
norance, the  privation  of  the  many,  con- 
trasted witli  the  lot  of  the  privileged  few, 
—  that   unnatural   relation  which  suffers 
one  man  to  riot  in  abundance  wrung  from 
the  sweat  of  his  brother,  and  condemns 
that   brother   to   lifelong   hardship,  —  no 
one  who  considers  these  things,  and  who 
believes  in  a  wise  and  righteous  rule  over 
all,  can  imagine  this  to  be  the  final  and 
true  destination  of  man.     The  time  must 
come  when  these   discrepancies   shall  be 
done  away,  when   the  reign   of  superior 
might  shall  give  place  to  that  of  superior 
wisdom  and  virtue,  when  society,  no  longer 
founded  in  force  but  in  love,  no  lono-er  a 
system  of  self-defence,  but  of  mutual  ser- 
vice, shall  combine  for  the  equal  good  of 
all,  and  when  the  outward  condition  of 
each  shall  be  the  measure  of  his  actual 
worth. 

Thus  may  we  hope  that  the  paradise  of 
unconscious  innocence  will  be  replaced  by 
a  paradise  of  conscious  virtue.  The  first 
Eden  was   the  native  dower  of  undisci- 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


64 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF    HEBREW    TRADITION. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Paradise. 


plined  man;  the  second  will  be  the  end 
of  discipline. 

The  highest  good  is  not  a  gift  but  a 
growth,  and  not  the  growth  of  a  few  gen- 
erations, but  the  growth  of  millennial  ages, 
— a  growtli  whose  root  was  in  the  bosom  of 
the  first-born,  and  whose  full  developments 
will  tell  the  story  and  carry  the  fortunes 
of  human  kind  through  incalculable  time. 
The  progress  of  humanity  will  not  be 
forced.  The  heavenly  graces  are  gaining 
on  the  kingdom  of  error  and  sin,  but  only 
as  the  new-formed  continent  gains  on  the 
lessening  deep.  Slowly  and  reluctantly 
the  hungry  element  retires ;  not  years  but 
centuries  chronicle  its  ebb. 

By  no  aggressive  acts  of  violence  can 
our  impatience  speed  the  work;  these  only 
serve  to  obstruct  and  retard  it.  The  evil 
that  is  in  the  world  can  be  abolished  only 
by  supplanting  it  with  good.  In  the  or- 
der of  Providence  the  moral  and  social 
improvement  of  the  race  is  effected  by 
gradual  propagation  from  mind  to  mind. 
The  best  we  can  do  for  the  reoeneration 


MAN   IN   PARADISE. 


65 


of  our  kind  is  to  be  regenerate  ourselves. 
By  faithful  occupation  and  due  cultivation 
of  our  appointed  sphere,  by  making  that 
to  blossom  with  good,  we  may  help  to 
plant  a  new  Eden  in  the  earth. 


Chap.  III. 

Man  in 
Para'/ise. 


K 


/ 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


69 


\ 


THE  BRUTE   CREATION, 


"  And  out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed  every 
beast  of  the  field  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  brought 
them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he  would  call  them. 
And  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  creature, 
that  was  the  name  thereof."  —  Genesis  ii.  19. 

The  Hebrew  conception  of  the  brute 
creation,  as  existing  for  the  sake  of  man 
(so  different  from  that  of  the  Hindu  mind) 
could  hardly  fail  to  find  expression  in 
the  early  speculations  of  that  self-exalting 
race.  Here  we  have  it  in  the  second  ac- 
count of  creation,  which  differs,  the  reader 
will  perceive,  very  widely  from  the  first. 
In  the  first  account  the  Elohist*  repre- 
sents man  as  the  last  creature  formed, 
—  the  closing  act  of  the  great  week  of 

*  Two  independent  documents  seem  to  have  been 
used  by  the  compiler  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  one  in 
which  God  is  called  Elohim  and  one  in  which  he  is 
called  Jahveh  or  Jehovah ;  hence  the  terms  Eldhist 
and  Jehovist. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


70 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


births.  In  the  second  the  more  national 
Jehovist  makes  him  anterior  to  the  brute, 
in  order,  it  would  seem,  to  emphasize  his 
position  as  sovereign  lord  for  whom  all 
that  has  life  on  the  earth  exists.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Jehovist  it  is  not  till  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden  has  been  planted,  and  man 
installed  in  it,  that  the  animal  tribes  are 
created  and  pass  in  review  before  him 
their  master,  and  receive  from  him  their 
appropriate  designation.  This  is  the  be- 
ginning of  that  supremacy  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  Hebrew  idea,  belongs  to  man 
as  natural  sovereign  of  the  animal  world. 
To  name  is  to  class,  to  subordinate,  to  sub- 
ject. Man  asserts  his  superiority  over  the 
brute  creation  in  this  that  he  can  name 
and  classify  them,  not  they  him.  He  sub- 
jects them  in  his  thought,  and  so  demon- 
strates the  ascendency  of  thought  and  the 
thinking  mind  over  dumb,  irrational  life. 
^NTo  doubt  aboriginal  man  was  dimly  con- 
scious of  this  ascendency.  No  doubt  he 
discerned  or  suspected  in  himself  a  higher 
type  and  a  nobler  calling  as  he  gazed  on 


i 


t 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


71 


those  animated  but  unconscious  natures, 
as  he  looked  into  those  eyes  through 
which  no  rational  soul  looked  back  into 
his  own.  He  found  there  no  response  to 
his  thought  and  no  "  helj)nieet "  for  his  af- 
fections ;  he  felt  that  these  creatures  be- 
longed to  another  sphere,  that  between  his 
nature  and  theirs  an  impassable  gulf  was 
set.  "And  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cat- 
tle and  to  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  to  every 
beast  of  the  field,  but  for  Adam  there  was 
found  no  help  meet  for  him."  Only  in 
Eve  he  saw  himself  reflected  and  repro- 
duced; in  her  he  welcomed  his  own. 
"This  is  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of 
my  flesh." 

The  brute  world  still  confronts  the  hu- 
man as  in  the  beginning.  The  "Lord 
God "  who  "  brought "  the  tribes  of  earth 
and  air  to  the  first  man  still  brings  them 
as  objects  for  man  to  consider  and  to 
name.  A  rich  and  manifold  world  it  is, 
this  brute  creation !  Its  place  and  func- 
tion in  the  universal  economy  is  a  topic 
of  more  than  speculative  interest.     This, 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


I  1 


72 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

TA^  Brute 
Creation. 


too,  IS  a  part  of  tlie  great  Revelation,  a 
chapter  in  the  God-given  Bible  of  nature. 
To  what  purpose  this  multitudinous  array 
and  endless  variety  of  animal  life  ?     The 
human  mind  constitutionally  inclines  to 
teleological  judgments.     The  idea  of  use, 
the  idea  answering  to  the  question,  where- 
fore ?  to  what  end  ?  intrudes  itself  in  all 
our  inquiries.     We  are  not  content  with 
the  simple  existence  of  any  finite  nature ; 
we  seek  in  every  object  some  ulterior  end, 
a  use  in  relation  to  something  else,  a  pur- 
pose  beyond   itself.      Tliis   want   of   the 
mind  is  not  always  satisfied  by  what  the 
senses  report  or  science  reveals.     This  ul- 
terior end  is  not  always  discoverable.    We 
can  generally  detect  the  use  of  parts  in 
relation  to  a  given  whole.     We  determine 
a  purpose  for  which  an  object  exists  in 
relation  to  its  own  sphere;  the  difficulty 
lies  in  determining  the   ulterior   end  of 
that  sphere,  —  the  use  of  the  whole.     An 
animal  being  given,  we  can  trace  the  re- 
lation of  part  to  part  and  find  a  use  for 
every  organ  and  an  adaptation  of  every 


THE  BRUTE   CREATION. 


73 


member  to  the  comfort  and  well-being  of 
the  creature  so  organized.  But  when  we 
seek  further  and  inquire  the  purpose  for 
which  that  animal  exists,  its  use  in  rela- 
tion to  a  higher  end,  that  question  is  not  so 
easily  solved, — is  insoluble  on  merely  te- 
leological grounds.  Man  as  the  head  of 
earthly  creations  is  apt  to  refer  all  things 
to  himself,  and  to  fancy  that  other  ani- 
mals exist  for  his  use  alone,  as  ministers 
to  his  need  and  pleasure.  The  horse  ex- 
ists for  the  sake  of  the  saddle,  the  cattle 
for  their  draught  and  their  flesh,  the  ele- 
phant for  its  ivoiy,  the  whale  for  its  oil. 
And  as  for  those  animals  whose  service  he 
has  not  learned  to  command,  from  whose 
existence  he  has  yet  derived  no  apparent 
advantage,  he  is  fain  to  suppose  that  in 
some  mysterious  way  they  also  assist  in 
this  ministry  and  are  made  conducive  to 
his  well-being. 

Spiritually  considered,  the  brute  crea- 
tion may  be  said  to  exist  for  man,  as  the 
visible  embodiment  of  spiritual  truths.  As 
such,  it  derives  from  him  its  true  and  best 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


74 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


import.     Inferior  animals  are  prophetic  of 
man,  they  are  graduated  approaches  to  his 
perfect  organism,  the  articulations  of  a  se- 
ries which  finds  its  consummation  in  "  the 
human  form  divine."     Lavater  found  but 
twenty-four  removes  in  the  scale  of  beauty 
between  the  features  of  the  frog  and  the 
face  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  —  each  suc- 
cessive delineation  resembling  its  prede- 
cessor so  nearly  as  to  be  distinguishable 
only  on  minute  examination.     Spiritually 
speaking,  man  is  the  end  and  aim  of  the 
animal  world.     But  we  are  not,  therefore, 
to  assume  that  animals  exist  for  the  sake 
of  man  in  the  base  utilitarian  sense,  as  if 
their  highest  use  were  to  minister  to  his 
pei-sonal  necessities.     To  prove  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  this  view  we  have  only  to  go 
a  step  further  and  inquire  the  use  of  man 
himself.     Do  you  say  that  man  exists  for 
the  service  of  his  Master  ?    The  same  may 
be  said,  for  aught  we  know,  of  all  animals. 
Do  you  say  that  man  exists  for  his  own 
satisfaction  and  joy  in  being  ?     The  same 
is  true  of  other  tribes.     The  happiness  of 


4 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


75 


all  his  creatures  we  must  believe  to  be 
equally  dear  to  the  Maker  of  all,  and  the 
'well-being  of  each  as  much  the  end  for 
which  that  creature  exists  as  human  well- 
being  is  the  end  of  man.     The  joy  of  an 
insect  sporting  in  the  sun  is  as  much  an 
end  of  God's  creation  as  the  supreme  ec- 
stasy of  an  immortal  soul.     The  lower  or- 
ders exist  not  for  the  sake  of  man  alone 
any  more  than  man  exists  for  theirs.     If 
viewed  collectively,  he  is  their  head  and 
they  his  members;  viewed  individually, 
they   have   an   independent   existence   of 
their  own,  and  the  same  right  that  he  has 
to  their  place  in  nature  and  their  share  in 
its  joys.     The  brute  creation,  it  is  likely, 
existed  for  ages  before  man  arrived  on  the 
earth ;  it  might  continue  to  exist  though 
man  were  destroyed.     It  exists  for  its  own 
sake  as  weU  as  man's,  and  because  the  in- 
finite Father,  though  sufficient  to  himself 
and  infinitely  blest  in  his  own  perfection, 
has  not  chosen  to  abide  in  self-contem- 
plation, but  has  poured  himself  forth  in 
creative  action,  producing  a  universe  of 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


76 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


sentient  beings  out  of  the  fulness  of  liis 
thought  and  love.  The  greatest  possible 
amount  of  sentient  existence  compatible 
with  the  greatest  amount  of  individual 
well-being,  and,  conversely,  the  greatest 
amount  of  individual  well-being  compati- 
ble with  the  largest  number  of  individ- 
uals ;  —  this  I  suppose  to  be  the  aim,  plan, 
and  final  cause  of  creation.  This  end  is 
attained,  not  by  making  a  few  individuals 
supremely  happy,  but  by  making  an  in- 
finity of  beings  partially  happy,  —  each 
as  perfect  in  its  way  and  sphere  as  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  will  allow. 

Hence  the  unmeasured,  immeasurable 
extent  and  variety  of  animated  nature, 
peopling  all  worlds  and  filling  every  par- 
ticle of  matter  with  life  and  joy.  But  a 
small  portion  of  this  immensity  is  known 
to  us.  The  task  of  naming  tlie  creatures 
of  earth  which  the  "  Lord  God "  assigned 
to  the  first  man  will  liardly  be  completed 
by  the  last.  We  know  not  how  many 
millenniums  man  has  liad  his  being  on 
this  planet,  but  we  know  that  all  these 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


77 


millenniums  have  not  sufficed  to  finish 
the  lesson  of  zoology  assigned  to  Adam  in 
Eden.  Many  thousands  of  animals  man 
has  noted  and  set  down  in  his  text-books, 
but  every  year  adds  new  discoveries,  and 
who  can  say  what  numbers  may  still  have 
eluded  his  search,  since  every  drop  of  wa- 
ter is  peopled  with  forms  of  animal  life 
whose  existence  is  appreciable  only  by 
magnifying  instruments  which  increase  a 
thousand-fold  the  visual  power  of  the  eye  ? 
No  marvel  of  creation  is  more  astounding 
than  the  sumless  profusion,  the  prodigal- 
ity of  animal  life  which  we  encounter  in 
those  microscopic  recesses  where  science 
shows  us 

"  All  matter  quick  and  bursting  into  birth," 

especially  if  we  include  the  fossil  world, 
together  with  existing  life,  in  our  view. 
Dr.  Lardner  asserts  that  among  the  Pyre- 
nees whole  mountains  consist  of  little 
else  than  the  fossilized  remains  of  mi- 
nute shell-fish,  which  it  must  have  tak- 
en innumerable  centuries  to  accumulate. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


78 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


Mr.  Ellis  in  his  "  Chemistry  of  Creation  "  * 
tells  us   that   most  of  the   limestone   of 
the  world  is  made  up  of  the  relics  of  in- 
sects   possessing   the   faculty   of  separat- 
ing the  salts  of  lime  from  the  waters  of 
the  ocean.      Another  class   of  insects   is 
found  in  a  certain  species  of  stone  in  such 
numbers  that  two  thousand  millions  have 
been   computed   to   the   cubic   inch.     Of 
other  terrestrial  kinds  who  can  say  what 
unknown  tribes  may  yet  lurk  in  the  bo- 
som of  the  earth  and  the  depths  of  the 
sea  ?     And  then,  if  we  carry  our  thought 
beyond  this   earth,  who  can  guess  what 
wealth  of  animated  nature  may  people  the 
orbs  which  accompany  ours  in  its  solar 
round,  what  countless  myriads  of  living 
forms  the  sovereign  sun,  a  million  times 
larger  than  our  earth,  may  hide  beneath 
its  veil  of  light ;  or  what  new  and  unim- 
aginable aspects  the  brute  creation  may 
assume   in  the   star-groups  which  island 
the  upper  deep !     Doubtless,  these  worlds 
are  also  the  abodes  of  living,  sentient  be- 

*  Quoted  in  "  Preadamite  Man." 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


79 


ings,  children  of  one  Parent,  clients  of  one 
Bounty,  inspired  by  one  Soul. 

The  Hebrew  idea  of  the  brute  creation 
is  that  of  a  world  of  which  man  is  the  ab- 
solute and  rightful  sovereign  as  well  as 
the  animal  head.  The  Old  Testament,  it  is 
true,  exhibits  marks  of  occasional  sympa- 
thy with  the  lower  orders,  as  in  that  beau- 
tiful one  hundred  and  fourth  Psa^m,  and 
in  the  sublime  strains  of  the  Book  of  Job. 
But,  on  the  whole,  the  Hebrew  feeling  in 
relation  to  brutes  is  best  represented  in 
those  portions  of  their  Scriptures  which 
fi<mre  the  inferior  animals  as  given  over  to 
man  unconditionally,  for  his  good  pleasure. 
"The  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of  you 
shall  be  upon  every  beast  of  the  earth  and 
upon  every  fowl  of  the  air  and  upon  all  the 
fishes  of  the  sea  ;  into  your  hand  they  are 
delivered.  Every  moving  thing  that  liv- 
eth  shall  be  meat  for  you;  even  as  the 
green  herb  have  I  given  you  all  things." 
This  old  tradition  dating  from  the  time  of 
the  patriarchs  the  Psalmist  exultingly  ac- 
cepts :  "Thou  hast  put  all  things  under 


Chap.  IV. 

Tke  Brute 
Creation. 


80 


PRIMEViVL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


his  feet ;  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the 
fowls  of  the  air  and  the  fishes  of  the  sea." 
The  Hebrew  looked  upon  the   animal 
world  as  existing  only  for  the  sake  of  man ; 
and  though,  as  I  said,  occasional  traces  of 
sympathy  appear,  the  prevailing  sentiment 
seems  to  have  been  indifference  or  con- 
tempt.    A  remarkable  illustration  of  this 
is  the  way  in  which  the  Scriptures  speak 
of  dogs,  the  most  moral  of  brutes.     It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  there  is  not  a  single  in- 
stance in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  — 
I  mean  in  the  canonical  books  —  in  which 
dogs  are  spoken  of  otherwise  than  in  terms 
of  abhorrence  and  contempt.    In  the  apoc- 
ryphal Book  of  Tobit  mention  is  made  of 
a  dog  without  the  accompanying  note  of 
scorn.     And  this  in  the  ancient  literature 
of  the  Hebrews,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  the 
only  exception.     It  is  not  a  pleasing  fea- 
ture of  the  Hebrew  character.     In  this  re- 
spect the  Hebrew  religion  contrasts  unfa- 
vorably with  that  of  the  Hindus,  although 
vastly  superior  to  it  in  things  more  essen- 
tial.    The  Hindu  mind  regards  the  brute 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


81 


The  Brute 
Creation. 


creation  as  having  equal  rights  with  the  |  Chap^  IV 
human,  as  having  an  equal  right  to  be,  ex- 
isting equally  for  its  own  sake,  or  as  man- 
ifestation, equally  sacred,  of  the  one  eter- 
nal indivisible  Being,  present  alike  in  aU 
the  kingdoms  of  nature,  and  equally  at 
home  in  aU ;  delighting  in  all  and  justified 
in  all.     The  brute  no  more  exists  for  man 
than  man  exists  for  the  brute;  both  are 
children  of  one  Father,  both  bear  his  sig- 
nature in  the  miracle  of  life.     As  animals 
he  cares  equally  for  both,  —  as  much  for 
the  animal  as  he  does  for  the  animal  man. 
Apart  from  the  spiritual  life,  which  is  quite 
distinct  from  animal,  and  is  not  to  be  con- 
sidered in  this  connection,  man  and  brute 
have   essentially   one   nature.     It   is   the 
merit  of  the  Hindu  view  of  creation  that 
it  recognizes  this  fact.     It  acknowledges 
and  adores  the  one  Being  in  all  creatures. 
"  Such  art  thou,"  it  bids  men  remember  in 
the  contemplation  of  every  animal.     Man 
represents  all  animals  in  his  composition, 
and  every  animal  has  something  of  man 
in  its  make.     This  is  the  Hindu  view  of 

4  ♦ 


82 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Crea'inn. 


creation  as  opposed  to  the  Hebrew,  and 
this,  I  tliink,  is  the  Christian  view  suf- 
ficiently indicated  by  that  saying  of  Jesus, 
"  Not  a  sparrow  falls  to  tlie  ground  with- 
out your  Father."  The  animal  kingdom 
is  not  separated  from  us  by  a  gulf  which 
places  them  beyond  our  sympathy  and  fel- 
low-feeling. So  far  as  we  are  animals  they 
are  fellows  with  us,  children  of  one  Father, 
partakers  of  one  life. 

It  follows  from  this  view  that  brutes 
have    claims    on    human    sympathy   and 
good-will.     We  are  not  at  liberty  to  deal 
with  them  as  mere  chattels  and  commodi- 
ties without  sensibilities  or  rights.     They 
have  rights  which  no  statute  can  define 
and  no  legislation  enforce,  but  which  edu- 
cated feeling  i^rescribes   and  enlightened 
conscience  will  exact.     That  well  known 
precept  which  expresses  a  refined  sense 
of  right  exceeding  all  civil  legislation,  but 
so  comprehensive,  so  universally  applica- 
ble, and  so  evidently  just  that  it  bears  the 
name  of  the  Golden  Eule,  —  to  deal  with 
others  as  we  in  like  conditions  would  be 


THE    BRUTE    CREATION. 


83 


dealt  with,  —  embraces  the  animal  world 
as  well  as  the  human  in  its  large  pro- 
vision. The  applications  of  that  rule  to 
animals  must  be  left  to  the  conscience 
of  every  right-minded  person.  Yet  the 
civil  law  in  enlightened  communities  so 
far  interferes  in  this  province  as  to 
shield  as  well  as  it  can  the  beast  of  bur- 
den from  merciless  blows.  It  is  often 
asked  if  society  improves.  One  proof  of 
the  progress  of  refinement,  of  the  growth 
of  Christian  sentiment  and  its  application 
to  real  life,  is  the  now  so  frequent  occur- 
rence in  Christian  lands  of  societies  for 
prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  Such 
societies  are  needless  where  the  Hindu 
feeling  toward  animals  prevails.  There 
Christian  missionaries  in  their  efforts  to 
convert  the  natives  find,  it  is  said,  a  seri- 
ous obstacle  in  the  knowledge  which  the 
people  have  of  the  manner  in  which  brutes 
are  treated  by  Christians.  In  those  lands 
there  are  hospitals  for  the  cure  of  sick  an- 
imals instituted,  not,  as  is  sometimes  the 
'  case  with  us,  in  the  interest  of  property,  but 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


84 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION". 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


in  the  interest  of  mercy,  not  for  the  sake 
of  the  owners,  but  of  tlie  animals.     And 
travellers  report,  as  a  common  occmTence, 
that  when  an  individual  has  experienced 
unexpected  good  fortune  he  manifests  liis 
gratitude  by  purchasing  caged  birds  in  the 
market  and  letting  them  fly  outside  of  the 
walls  of  the  city.*     Christendom  has  yet 
nuich  to  learn  from  the  heathen  nations 
whom  it  seeks  with  a  laudable  and  Chris- 
tian zeal  to  convert.     But  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  Christianity  is  that  Christendom 
can  learn  and  will  learn ;  that  it  does  not 
shut  itself  out  from  the  light,  but  receives 
it,  desires  it.     Its  faith  is  progressive,  its 
moral  is  progressive,  it  knows  that  what- 
ever is  fair  and  kind  and  gentle  and  hu- 
mane is  according  to  Christ,  —  is  required 
by  his  law.     That  law  contains  by  impli- 
cation, though  it  does  not  specify,  all  the 
humanities  and  all  the  virtues.     And  ten- 
derness to  animals  is  one  of  the  humani- 
ties and  one  of  the  virtues.     Christianity 

*  See  an  essay  by  Schopenhauer  in  the  "  Parerga  und 
Paralipomena.** 


I 


i 


THE  BRUTE   CREATION. 


85 


does  not  explicitly  enjoin  it,  neither  does 
it  explicitly  enjoin  abolition  of  slavery; 
and  slavery  has  been  i^ractised  through  all 
these  centuries  by  Christian  nations.  But 
Christian  sentiment  has  come  to  perceive 
that  slavery  is  cruel  and  wrong,  and,  there- 
fore, unchristian.  And  Christian  senti- 
ment wdll  come  in  due  time  to  perceive 
that  all  abuse  of  animals,  all  injustice  to 
animals,  is  unchristian ;  that  not  the  He- 
brew theory  of  the  brute  creation  which 
Christendom  inherited  from  Judaism,  and 
w^hich  finds  expression  in  those  question- 
able words  of  Paul,  — "Doth  God  care 
for  oxen  ?"  —  but  the  Hindu  theory  which 
teaches  sympathy  with  animals  on  the 
ground  of  fellowship  with  the  brute  cre- 
ation, is  most  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  Christ. 

The  law  of  the  land  endeavors  to  protect 
the  horse  from  the  cruel  treatment  of  un- 
feeling and  unprincipled  masters,  wdio  vent 
their  rage  on  the  helpless  beast  that  serves 
them.  And  who  that  has  witnessed  the  too 
common  spectacle  of  a  savage  and  infu- 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


86 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


riated  driver  belaboring  with  blows  and 
kicks  the  noble  and  overburdened  animal 
whose  muscles  are  unequal  to  the  task  as- 
signed him  has  not  felt  that  the  master  was 
the  greater  brute  of  the  two,  and  has  not 
been  tempted  to  wish  that  with  such  meas- 
ure as  he  metes  to  his  beast  it  might  be 
measured  to  him  again  ?    But  the  law  is  a 
very  imperfect  protector  of  animals,  and 
beatings  of  horses  is  a  very  small  part  of 
the  cruelty  practised  upon  them.     Some 
of  these  cruelties  are  perpetrated  in  the 
name  of  science.     One  can  pardon  much 
to  that  most  worthy  cause,  but  painful  ex- 
periments on  the  animal  organism  are  jus- 
tifiable only  where  the  point  to  be  deter- 
mined  by   such    experiments    is    one   of 
obvious  and  vital  importance  in  medical 
and  chirurgical  art,  and  where  it  can  be 
reached  in  no  other  way.     The  practice  of 
vivisection,  —  dissection  of  live  animals, — 
sometimes  resorted  to  by  naturalists  from 
mere  curiosity,  has  no  such  apology,  and 
is  wanton  trifling  with  the  sacredness  of 
life.     The  illustrious  Blumenbach,  one  of 


THE   BRUTE  CREATION. 


87 


The  Brute 
Creation. 


the  greatest  of  modern  naturalists,  strongly  ;  Chap.  IV. 
reprobated  the  practice.    If  ever  it  is  re- 
sorted to,  he  said,  let  it  be  by  special  per- 
mission in  a  public  council  of  competent 
scientific  witnesses,  as  it  were  a  solemn 
sacrifice  to  science.*     As  a  general  rule, 
the  knowledge  whicli  can  be  obtained  only 
with  torture  had  better  be  dispensed  with. 
]\Iore  reprehensible  still  are  those  spec- 
tacles in  which   brutes  are  worried   and 
killed  for  the  entertainment  of  a  rude  and 
merciless  public,  such  as  the  cockpit  in 
England,  and  the  bull-fight  which  forms 
the  Sunday  entertainment  of  the  most  or- 
thodox of  Catholic  Christian  lands.     One 
can  hardly  imagine  a  stronger  contrast  in 
its    kind,   or    one    more    discreditable    to 
Christian  civilization,  than  that  between 
the  bull-fights  of  Christian  Spain  and  the 
Banyan  hospital  for  maimed  animals  at 
Surat  in  heathen  Hindostan.* 

Demoralizing  in  the  highest  degree  are  \ 
all  public  spectacles  whose  interest  is  pain. 
All  public  executions  tend  more  to  cor- 

*  Schopenhauer. 


88 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


89 


The  Brute 
Creation. 


Chap.  IV.  [nipt  and  subvert  the  vulgar  mind  than 
I  even    the    unpunished    crime.      If   there 
I  must  be  capital  punishment,  let  it  be  ad- 
I  ministered   in   the  j^resence    only  of  the 
necessary  officers  appointed  for  tliat  end, 
and  without  superfluous  suffering ;  for  self- 
defence  alone  can  justify  the  supreme  pen- 
alty. 

There  is  no.  fault  in  children  which 
should  give  the  parents  greater  concern 
than  a  disposition  to  torture  animals.  Let 
parents  who  observe  this  vice  in  a  child 
hasten  to  correct  it  with  all  diligence,  not 
by  inflicting  bodily  pain  in  return,  but  by 
bringing  all  the  weight  of  their  influence 
to  bear  in  the  way  of  appeal  to  reason  and 
feeling.  Let  the  child  be  taught  that  the 
brute  has  rights,  and  that  power  is  to  be 
used  for  the  benefit,  not  for  tlie  injury,  of 
the  subject.  Let  him  be  taught  to  enter 
into  the  feelings  of  his  victim  by  putting 
liimself  in  its  place.  Teach  him  to  find 
pleasure  in  ministering  to  the  wants  and 
promoting  the  comfort  of  domestic  an- 
imals, to   delight  in  their   fellowship,  to 


\ 


cultivate  their  confidence  and  good-will. 
Awaken  betimes  and  cherish  in  him  that 
compassion  for  all  suffering,  the  want  of 
which  is  a  fatal  defect,  the  abundance  of 
which  allies  the  human  with  superior  na- 
tures, and  the  germ  of  which  is  in  every 
breast. 

It  is  one  of  the  imperfections  of  our 
mortal  state,  a  painful  necessity,  which 
obliges  us  sometimes  to  take  the  life  of 
animals,  —  of  those  that  harm  us,  in  self- 
defence,  for  the  harm  they  do,  of  others 
for  what  they  yield  of  necessary  food. 
This  right  we  have  as  human  beings,  as 
human  animals;  for  all  flesh-eating  an- 
imals prey  upon  each  other,  and  man  by 
constitution  is  a  flesh-eating  animal.  We 
have  the  right ;  so  far  the  Hebrew  view 
is  correct.  But  the  ground  on  which  the 
Hebrew  based  this  right  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  admit.  It  belongs  to  us  as  an- 
imals, not  as  superior  beings  for  whose 
sake  alone  the  animal  world  was  made, 
and  to  whom  it  is  unconditionally  sub- 
ject.    And  the  right  has  its  limits,  which 


Chap.  IV. 

Tlie  Brute 
Creation. 


90. 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


should  not  be  transgressed.     Tlie  destruc- 
tion of  life  must  not  be  needlessly  ex- 
tended or  wantonly-  indulged.     The  death 
which  necessity  obliges  us  to  inflict  should 
be  rendered  as  painless  to  the  victim  as 
the  nature  of  the  case  will  admit.     And 
may  we  not  indulge  the  liope  of  a  time, 
in    other    far   distant    generations,    when 
the  need  of  destruction  for  defence  and 
bodily  maintenance   shall   no   longer  ex- 
ist, when  the  discord  of  predatory  nature 
shall   cease,   when    the    new-made    earth 
shall  so  adjust  and  reconcile  and  mutual- 
ly limit  and  mutually  attract  her  various 
kinds,  eliminating  all  that  is  hostile  and 
hurtful,  that  each  in  its  appointed  and  mu- 
tually conceded  place  shall  find  a  sanctu- 
ary with  none  to  molest  or  make  it  afraid; 
when  the  purged  and  ethereal  body  shall 
no  longer  subsist  by  slaughter  and  blood, 
but  find  sufficing  nutriment  in  the  grains 
and  pulps  of  earth  and  the  balms  of  the 
air,  when  the  hard  and  hateful  condition 
of  life-destroying  life  shall  be  connnuted 
for  life-preserving  care  of  life ;  when  not 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


91 


"  all  nature's  discord,"  as  the  poet  says,  but 
all  nature's  concord,  shall  "keep  all  na- 
ture's peace."  If  the  Hebrew  prophet  in 
his  rapt  mood  could  dream  of  a  time  when 
the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb  and 
the  leopard  lie  down  with  the  kid  and  the 
lion  eat  hay  like  the  ox,  and  nothing  hurt 
or  destroy  in  all  the  mountain  of  God, 
may  not  the  higher  reach  of  Christian 
hope  report  an  amen  to  the  blessed  vision  ? 
But  what  is  needed  for  the  present  is 
due  regard  for  the  natural  rioiits  of  ani- 
mals,  due  sense  of  the  fact  that  they  are 
not  created  for  man's  pleasure  and  behoof 
alone,  but  have,  independent  of  him,  their 
own  meaning  and  place  in  the  universal 
order;  that  the  God  who  gave  them  be- 
ing, who  out  of  the  manifoldness  of  his 
creative  thought  let  them  pass  into  life, 
has  not  cast  them  off,  but  is  with  them, 
in  them,  still.  A  portion  of  his  Spirit, 
though  unconscious  and  unreflecting,  is 
theirs.  What  else  but  the  Spirit  of  God 
could  guide  the  crane  and  the  stork  across 
pathless  seas  to  their  winter  retreats,  and 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


92 


PKIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


back  again  to  their  summer  haunts  ?   A\Tiat 
else  could  reveal  to  the  petrel  the  coming 
storm  ?    Wliat  but  the  Spirit  of  God  could 
so  geometrize   the  wondrous  architecture 
of  the  spide^  and  the  bee,  or  hang  the  hill- 
star's  nest  in  air,  or  sling  the  hammock 
of  the  tiger-moth,  or  curve  the  ramparts 
of  the  beaver's  fort,  and  build  the  myriad 
"homes   without   hands"    in   which   fish, 
bird,  and  insect  make  their  abode  ?     The 
Spirit  of  God  is  witli  them  as  with  us,  — 
consciously   with   us,  unconsciously  with 
them.    We  are  not  divided  but  one  in  his 
care  and  love.     They  have  their  mansions 
in  the  Father's  house  and  we  have  ours ; 
but  the  house  is  one,  and  the  Master  and 
Keeper  is  one  for  us  and  them. 

The  rights  of  all  creatures  are  to  be 
respected,  but  especially  of  those  kinds 
which  man  domesticates  and  subsidizes 
for  his  peculiar  use.  Tlieir  nearer  con- 
tact with  the  human  world  creates  a  claim 
on  our  loving -kindness  beyond  what  is 
due  to  more  foreign  and  untamed  tribes. 
Ptespect  that  claim.    *'  The  righteous  man," 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


93 


says  the  proverb,  "  regardeth  the  life  of  his 
beast."  Note  that  word  "  righteous."  The 
proverb  does  not  say  the  merciful  man, 
but  the  righteous,  the  just.  Not  mercy 
only,  but  justice,  is  due  to  the  brute.  Your 
horse,  your  ox,  your  kine,  your  dog,  are  not 
mere  chattels,  but  sentient  souls.  They 
are  not  your  own  so  proper  as  to  make 
your  will  the  true  and  only  measure  of 
their  lot.  Beware  of  contravenimj  their 
nature's  law,  of  taxing  unduly  their  na- 
ture's strength.  Their  powers  and  gifts 
are  a  sacred  trust.  The  gift  of  the  horse 
is  his  fleetness,  but  when  that  gift  is 
strained  to  excess  and  put  to  wager  for 
exorbitant  tasks,  murderous  injustice  is 
done  to  the  beast.  They  have  their  rights, 
wliich  every  right-minded  owner  will  re- 
spect. We  owe  them  in  return  for  the 
service  they  yield,  all  needful  comfort, 
kind  usage,  rest  in  old  age,  and  an  easy 
death. 

And  let  us  take  to  ourselves  the  moral 
lessons  which  these  creatures  preach  to 
all  who  have  studied  and  learned  to  love 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


94 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION". 


THE   BRUTE   CREATION. 


95 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


what  I  venture  to  call  the  moral  in  brutes. 
Look  at  that  faithful  servant,  the  ox ! 
What  an  emblem  in  all  generations  of 
patient,  plodding,  meek  endurance  and 
serviceable  toil!  Of  the  horse  and  the 
dog  what  countless  anecdotes  declare  the 
generous  loyalty,  the  tireless  zeal,  the  in- 
alienable love !  No  human  devotion  has 
ever  surpassed  the  recorded  examples  of 
brutes  in  that  line.  The  story  is  told  of 
an  Arab  horse  who,  when  liis  master  was 
taken  captive  and  bound  hand  and  foot, 
sought  him  out  in  the  dark  amidst  other 
victims,  seized  him  by  the  girdle  with  his 
teeth,  ran  with  him  all  night  at  the  top 
of  his  speed,  conveyed  him  to  his  home, 
and  then,  exhausted  with  the  effort,  fell 
down  and  died.  Did  ever  man  evince 
more  devoted  affection  ? 

Surely,  something  of  a  moral  nature  is 
present  also  in  the  brute  creation.  If  no- 
where else,  we  may  find  it  in  the  brute 
mother's  care  for  her  young.  Througli 
universal  nature  throbs  the  divine  pulse 
of  the  universal  Love,  and  binds  all  being 


\  ■,< 


to  the  Father-heart  of  the  author  and 
lover  of  all.  Therefore  is  sympathy  with 
animated  nature  a  holy  affection,  an  ex- 
tended humanity,  a  projection  of  the  hu- 
man heart  by  which  we  live,  beyond  the 
precincts  of  the  human  house,  into  all 
the  wards  of  the  many-creatured  city  of 
God,  as  he  with  his  wisdom  and  love 
is  copresent  to  all.  Sympathy  with  na- 
ture is  a  part  of  the  good  man's  religion. 
For  nature  is  not  godless  as  false  relig- 
ion has  sometimes  taught,  nor  does 
Christian  piety  recall  men  from  nature 
into  holy  seclusion,  with  the  feeling  of 
that  monk  who  shut  out  the  view  of  the 
beautiful  landscape,  as  God-displeasing, 
from  his  cell,  but  rather  allies  men  with 
it  in  holy  communion.  They  who  have 
had  most  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  have 
loved  to  converse  with  nature,  like  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  who  called  the  sun  and 
moon  and  fire  and  death  his  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  whose  celebrated  hymn 
to  nature  needs  only  a  recognition  of 
the  brute  creation  to  make   it  the  best 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


96 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


expression  of  Christian  piety  in  commun- 
ion with  the  visible  world. 

Here  is  the  hymn,  or  so  much  of  it  as 
concerns  us  in  this  connection :  — 

"Praised  be  my  Lord  God  with  all  his  crea- 
tures; and  especially  our  brother  the  Sun,  who 
brings  us  the  day  and  who  brings  us  the  light; 
fair  is  he  and  shining  with  a  very  great  splendor. 
O  Lord,  he  signifies  to  us  thee  I 

"  Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  the  Moon, 
and  for  the  stars,  the  which  he  has  set  clear  and 
lovely  in  the  heavens. 

"  Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  brother  the  Wind, 
and  for  air  and  cloud,  calms  and  all  weather,  by 
the  which  thou  upholdest  in  life  all  creatures. 

"  Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  sister  Water,  who 
is  very  serviceable  unto  us  and  precious  and  clean. 

"Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  brother  Fire, 
through  whom  thou  givest  us  light  in  the  dark- 
ness, and  he  is  bright  and  pleasant  and  very 
mighty  and  strong. 

**  Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  mother  the  Earth, 
the  which  doth  sustain  and  keep  us  and  bringeth 
forth  divers  fruits  and  flowers  of  many  colors  and 
grass." 

Here  let  us  add.  this  supplemental 
stanza :  — 


THE   BRUTE   CREATIOIT. 


97 


Praised  be  my  Lord  for  our  brothers 
and  sisters  the  living  creatures  which  thou 
hast  made,  the  birds  of  the  air,  the  beasts 
of  the  field,  and  the  fishes  that  inhabit  the 
sea.  They,  too,  are  thy  children,  they 
praise  thy  handiwork,  and  thou  blessest 
them  with  thy  love! 


Chap.  IV. 

The  Brute 
Creation. 


1 


u 


£s!^«Mfa»SK^tte««»M@«^^''  " 


/ 


PARADISE    LOST. 


101 


PARxiDISE   LOST. 

"  Now  the  serpent  was  more  subtle  than  any  beast 
of  the  field  which  the  Lord  God  had  made.  And  he 
saith  unto  the  woman,  Yea,  hath  God  said.  Ye  shall  not 
eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?  And  the  woman  said 
unto  the  serpent,  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden.  But  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  which  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden  God  hath  said,  Ye  shall  not 
eat  of  it,  neither  shall  yc  touch  it,  lest  ye  die.  And 
the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman,  Ye  shall  not  surely 
die.  For  God  doth  know  that  in  the  day  that  ye  eat 
thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be  opened ;  and  ye  shall  be 
as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.  And  when  the  woman 
saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was 
pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make 
one  wise,  she  took  of  the  fruit  thereof,  and  did  eat,  and 
gave  also  unto  her  husband,  and  he  did  eat  and  the 
eyes  of  them  both  were  opened."  —  Genesis  iii.  1-7. 

One  of  the  first  questions  that  came  to 
be  discussed  in  the  infancy  of  thought, 
when  men  began  to  speculate  on  things 
human  and  divine,  was  the  origin  of  evil ; 
more  specifically,  of  moral  evil.     Atten- 


Chap.  v. 

Paradise  Lost. 


102 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


tion  was  early  drawn  to  that  schism  in 
man's  nature  which  arrays  the  passions 
against  the  moral  sense,  —  the  conflict  of 
duty  with  desire. 

The  parable  of  the  forbidden  tree  em- 
bodies the  result  of  Hebrew  speculation 
on  this  subject.  No  parable  of  ancient 
or  modern  time  has  exercised  such  influ- 
ence as  this  on  the  thoughts  and  belief  of 
mankind,  and  probably  none  has  suffered 
such  perversion  in  the  interpretation  of  its 
import. 

The  first  mistake  that  was  made  about 
it  was  to  interpret  literally,  as  historic 
fact,  what  the  writer  intended  as  allegory. 
It  is  very  common,  this  confusing  of  alle- 
gory with  history  in  religion.  WTiere  the 
form  is  historical  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  substance  is  equally  so.  Chil- 
dren, until  otherwise  taught,  receive  the 
fictions  of  fable  and  romance  as  veritable 
fact.  Experience  corrects  this  illusion  in 
the  case  of  secular  literature.  But  the  lit- 
erature of  religion  is  represented  as  excep- 
tional.    It  comes  to  us,  or  we  come  to  it. 


PARADISE   LOST. 


103 


with  early  impressions  of  literal  historic 
truth  which  retain  their  hold  in  after 
years,  confirmed  as  they  are  by  tradition- 
al views  which  seem  to  exclude  the  idea 
of  fiction  as  incompatible  with  the  sacred* 
lore.  As  if  history  were  more  sacred  than 
thought ! 

Another  mistake  in  the  interpretation 
of  this  parable  respects  the  meaning  of 
the  serpent  which  plays  so  important  a 
part  in  the  story,  seducing  man  from  his 
rightful  allegiance.  This  figure  has  been 
understood  to  represent  the  evil  Principle 
in  nature,  the  aboriginal  eternal  Evil,  else- 
where personified  as  Satan  or  the  Devil. 
The  serpent  in  this  case,  I  am  persuaded, 
means  no  such  thing.  The  supposition 
conflicts  with  the  whole  tenor  of  the  Book 
of  Genesis,  with  all  the  ideas  and  views 
of  God  and  creation  there  presented.  God 
is  there  figured  as  sole  Creator,  Maker  of 
heaven  and  earth  and  all  that  therein  is. 
Nothing  is  supposed  to  exist  which  God 
did  not  create;  and  all  his  creatures  are 
pronounced  good.     The  notion  of  any  evil 


Chap.  V. 


Paradise  Lost, 


104 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


PARADISE   LOST. 


105 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


thing  or  person  in  creation  is  wholly  for- 
eign from  the  drift  of  the  story  and  the 
genius  of  the  book.     There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  Hebrews  at  the  time  of  this  writ- 
ing had  any  conception  of  a  Satan  or  em- 
bodied Principle  of  Evil.     The  idea  be- 
longs to  a  later  age.     It  did  not  originate 
with  tlie  Hebrews,  but  came  to  them  from 
a   foreign   source,   and   was   not    adopted 
among  tlieir   ideas   until   centuries   after 
the  time  of  Moses.     How  has  it  liappened, 
then,  that  the -serpent  in  this  story  has 
been  identified  with  satanic  agency  ?     The 
misunderstanding  is    due,   I   suppose,   to 
certain  passages  in  the  Book  of  Revela- 
tion, which  speak  of  the  "  old  serpent  or 
Dragon    which   is    called   the    Devil   and 
Satan."     But  in   these  passages  there  is 
no  proof  of  any  reference  to  the  story  of 
the  temptation  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and 
if  there  were  it  would  not  foUow  that  the 
author  of  that  story  had  any  such  idea  in 
his  mind.    With  English  readers  this  false 
impression  lias  derived  an  added  sanction 
from  the  great  authority  of  Milton,  who 


W 


embodies  it  in  his  "  Paradise  Lost."     That 
immortal  poem  has  served  to  shape  and 
fix  the  received  idea  of  the  Fall  of  Man. 
Milton,  like  so  many  others,  has  mixed  up 
the  later  Jewish  conception  of  Lucifer,  the 
fallen  angel,  the   arch-fiend  of  mankind, 
with   the  primitive   Hebrew  intuition  of 
evil   and    the    fall.      It    suited    his   pur- 
pose to  do  so.     Now  it  is  very  essential 
to  a  riglit  understanding  of  the  parable 
that  we  divest  ourselves  of  all  such  im- 
pressions, of  all  ideas  of  satanic  agency  in 
this  connection.     The  very  point   of  the 
Biblical  theory  of  the  fall  is  lost  by  re- 
garding it  as  resulting  from  the  action  of 
an  antecedent,  extra  human,  evil  Power, 
instead  of  originating  in  the  constitution 
of  man.     It  belongs  to  the  essence  of  the 
story  that  man  falls  by  the  action,  the  per- 
verted action  of  his  own  nature.     The  ser- 
pent represents  the  sensuous  understand- 
ing divorced  from  reason  and  conscience, 
insinuating  itself  between  the  idea  of  good 
and  the  idea  of  right,  separating  enjoy- 
ment from  duty,  and  urging  the  pursuit  of 

6* 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


106 


PRIMEVAL   WOKLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITIOX. 


PARADISE   LOST. 


107 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


tlie  former  in  defiance  of  the  latter.     The 
serpent  was  an  old  Egyptian  symbol  of 
wisdom.     Here  it  typifies  fieshly  wisdom 
as  opposed  to  spiritual,  —  that  subtle,  in- 
sidious reasoning  by  which  a  man  deludes 
himself  into  the  belief  that  he  is  doing  the 
best  thing,  consulting  his  own  interests, 
when  he  yields  to  sinful  desire.     For  no 
man,  unless  it  be  from  the  impulse  of  sud- 
den,  unreasoning,    o'ermastering    passion, 
commits   a  crime  without   attempting   at 
the  moment  to  justify  it  to  himself  by 
means  of  some  plea  or  pretext  which  shall 
make  it  seem  plausible.      This  sophistry 
of  sin  is  figured  in  the  story  as  a  serpent 
"more  subtle  than  aU  the  beasts  of  the 
field." 

A  third  error  respects  the  moral  condi- 
tion of  man  before  the  faU.  The  prevail- 
ing notion  represents  it  as  a  state  of  moral 
perfection.  Theologians  have  said  very 
extravagant  things  of  the  spiritual  glories 
of  that  first  estate.  "  It  is  as  difficult  for 
us,"  says  Dr.  South,  "  to  raise  our  thoughts 
and  imagination  to  those  inteUectual  per- 


fections  that  attended  our  nature  in  the 
time  of  innocence,  as  it  is  for  a  peasant 
bred  up  in  the  obscurities  of  a  cottage  to 
fancy  in  his  mind  the  unseen  splendors 
of  a  court ;  but  we  may  collect  the  excel- 
lency of  the  understanding  then  by  the 
glorious  remainders  of  it  now,  and  guess  at 
the  stateliness  of  the  building  by  the  mag- 
nificence of  its  ruins.     And  certainly  that 
must  have  been  very  glorious  the.  decays 
of  which  are  so  admirable.     An  Aristotle 
was   but   the   rubbish   of  an  Adam,  and 
Athens  but  the   rudiments   of  paradise." 
The    record    knows    nothing   of    all   this. 
There  is  nothing  from  which  it   can  be 
legitimately  inferred.      The    only  passage 
that  can  be  interpreted  as  furnishing  the 
least  support  to  such  a  theory  of  man  in 
paradise  is  the  language  used  in  the  first 
account  of  the  creation  of  man :  "  So  God 
created   man  in   his   own  image,   in   the 
image  of  God  created  he  him,  male  and  fe- 
male created  he  them."    But  whatever  these 
words  may  mean,  —  and  as  I  understand 
them  they  mean  only  that  man  was  cre- 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


108  PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


PARADISE  LOST. 


109 


Chap. 

Paradise 


V. 

Lost. 


ated  a  spiritual  being,  capable  of  conscious 
communion  with  God,  and  so  partaking  of 
the  divine  nature;  —  whatever  the  words 
may  mean,  they  belong  to  a  different  and 
independent   record,   not    that  which   re- 
counts  the   story   of  the   fall.     For   evi- 
dently two  distinct  records  are  embodied 
in  the  Book  of  Genesis.    The  second  chap- 
ter contains  an  account  of  the  creation  of 
man  very  different  from  the  first.     There 
we  read,  "  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life;  and 
man   became   a   living   soul."     And   this 
earth-formed  man  it  is  who  is  placed  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden  and  encounters  the 
temptation  there  described.     Now  we  may 
suppose  that  the  writer  in  the  first  chap- 
ter is  speaking  of  the  spiritual  man,  and 
in  the  second  of  the  animal  which  that 
spirit  inhabits ;  still,  I  cannot  suppose  that 
the  whole  man  thus  constituted  —  a  spirit 
incarnate  in  a  fieshly  body  and  bounded 
by   an   animal   soul  —  was   conceived   by 
the  writer  as  endowed,  nor  that  primitive 


man  was,  in  fact,  endowed  with  that  ex- 
traordinary superhuman  power  and  glory 
which  theologians  have  imputed  to  him. 
A  sufficient  and,  in  my  opinion,  unan- 
swerable objection  to  this  theological  view 
of  man  is  the  difficulty  of  believing  that  a 
being  so  endowed  could  have  fallen  from 
such  a  height  through  the  solicitation  of 
any  such  inducement  as  the  theory  sup- 
poses, or  as  earth  could  present.  There 
must  have  been  a  terribly  weak  spot  in 
a  creature  whom  the  serpent  could  so  be- 
guile. A  class  of  mystics,  of  whom  the 
excellent  and  spiritually  minded  William 
Law  is  the  best  English  representative, 
understand  the  fall  of  man  to  be  a  de- 
scent from  an  angelic  state  into  a  bestial 
one,  through  a  low  and  sinful  desire  to 
taste  the  sensations  of  inferior  natures, — 
in  the  words  of  Law,  by  "  lusting  to  enter 
into  a  sensibility  of  the  good  and  evil  of 
the  bestial  life  of  this  world."  How  such 
a  desire  could  enter  the  mind  of  an  angelic 
being  they  do  not  explain.  It  seems  to 
me  very  much  as  if  one  of  us  should  long 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


110  PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION*. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


to  experience  the  sensations  of  a  toad  or 
a  worfh.     Such  a  notion,  I  doubt,  never 
entered  the  mind  of  any  sane  man.     This 
writer.  Law,  foUowing  in  the  footsteps  of 
Jacob  Boehme,  his  great  predecessor  and 
oracle,  supposes  the  faU  of  man  to  com- 
mence with  the   longing   for   an   earthly 
companion,  in  consequence  of  whicli  the 
one  original  nature,  created  male  and  fe- 
male, was  divided  into  two  distinct  sexes. 
Up  to  that  time  everything  had  been  pro- 
nounced good.    "  And  God  saw  everything 
that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very 
good."     But  now  comes  something  which 
was  not  good.     "  It  is  not  good  that  the 
man  should  be  alone."    Adam  should  have 
been  sufficient  to  himself  as  God  created 
him,  male  and  female,  but  he  longed  for  a 
mate,  he  was  not  satisfied  to  be  alone; 
and  God,  foreseeing  his  f[ill  in  consequence 
of  this  dissatisfaction,  saw  also  that  it  was 
not  good  for  him  to  be  alone,  and  created 
woman,  took  his  Eve  out  of  liim,  by  way 
of  remedial  provision,  with  a  view  to  his 
final  restoration  ;  for  the  seed  of  the  woman 


PARADISE   LOST. 


Ill 


was  to  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  So  rea- 
son these  mystics.  Tlie  deep  sleep  which 
fell  upon  Adam  they  interpret  as  his  ina- 
bility to  satisfy  himself  any  longer  with 
the  contemplation  of  the  divi^e  image  in 
which  he  was  formed.  "Adam,"  says 
Law,  "  had  lost  much  of  his  perfection  be- 
fore his  Eve  was  taken  out  of  him,  which 
was  done  to  prevent  worse  effects  of  liis 
fall  and  to  prepare  a  means  of  his  recov- 
ery when  his  fall  should  become  total. 
'  It  is  not  good  that  m^n  sliould  be  alone ' ; 
this  shows  that  Adam  had  altered  his  first 
estate,  had  brought  some  beginning  of  evil 
into  it,  had  made  that  not  to  be  good 
which  God  saw  to  be  good  when  he  cre- 
ated him.  And,  therefore,  as  a  lesser  evil 
and  to  prevent  a  greater,  God  divided  the 
first  perfect  human  nature  into  two  parts, 
a  male  and  a  female.  It  was  at  first  the 
total  humanity  in  one  creature  who  should 
in  that  state  of  perfection  liave  brought 
forth  his  own  likeness  out  of  himself  in 
such  purity  of  love  and  such  divine  power 
as  he  himself  was  brought  forth  by  God. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost- 


112 


PKIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 
Paradise  Lost. 


The  manner  of  his  ovra  birth  from  God 
was  the  manner  tliat  his  own  offspring 
should  have  had  a  birth  from  him,  all 
done  by  the  pure  power  of  a  divine  love." 
"But  Adam  turned  away  his  love  from 
the  divine  image  which  he  should  only 
have  loved  and  desired  to  propagate  out 
of  himself.  He  gazed  upon  the  outward 
world  and  let  in  an  adulterate  love  into 

his  heart His  first  love  and  divine 

power  had  no  strength  left  in  it ;  it  was 
no  longer  a  power .  of  bringing  forth  a  di- 
vine birth  from  himself.  This  state  of  in- 
ability is  that  which  is  called  his  falling 
into  a  deep  sleep.  And  in  this  sleep  God 
divided  this  overcome  humanity  into  a 
male  and  a  female."  These  mystic  theo- 
ries have  a  certain  fascination,  but  are  ca- 
pable neither  of  proof  nor  of  disproof  from 
reason  or  the  record.  We  can  view  them 
only  as  fine  speculations  whose  sole  value 
consists  in  the  satisfaction  they  afford  to 
individual  minds  and  the  light  which  in- 
dividuals think  they  derive  from  them  on 
the  great  topics  to  which  they  relate. 


; 


•/ 


i « ■ 


PARADISE   LOST.. 


113 


r 


One  more  error  in  the  reading  of  the  par- 
able of  the  fall  —  the  most  prevailing  and 
most  pernicious  of  all  the  errors  concern- 
ino-  it  —  demands  our  notice.     I  mean  the 
impression  that  the  prohibition  to  eat  of 
a  certain  fruit  inculcated  on  the  first  man 
is  to  be  understood  as  an  arbitrary  com- 
mand proposed  for  no  reason  in  the  na- 
ture of  things,   but   simply  as  a  test  of 
man's  fidelity,  —  a  trial  of  the  whole  race 
in  the  person  of  one  individual;  a  trial 
by  which,  if  successfully  encountered  and 
endured  by  that  individual,  the  whole  race 
were  to  be  immortal  and  forever  blest ;  by 
which,  if  he  failed,  the  whole  race,  in  con- 
sequence of  that  failure,  would  be  cursed 
and  doomed  to  death.     This  monstrous  in- 
terpretation, —  which  degrades  the  idea  of 
God  into  that  of  an  almighty  tyrant,  and 
makes  the  moral  law  an  exercise  of  power 
for  the  sake  of  power,  of  domination  on 
the  one  hand  and  subjection  on  the  other, 
—has  no  shadow  of  foundation  in  reason  or 
religion.     The  story,  though  commonly  so 
interpreted,  means  no  such  thing.     It  is 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


114 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


simply  a  picture  of  liuman  nature,  its  ten- 
dencies and  aberrations,  and  the  natural 
consequence   of   those    aberrations.      The 
idea  of  hereditariness  I  do  not  find  in  it. 
Of  inherited  guilt,  of  imputed  guilt,  there 
is  no  intimation.    Why,  then,  is  the  story 
told  of  the  first  man  ?    Simply  because  the 
first  man  is  a  type  of  all  men,  and  being 
the  first  is  naturally  selected  as  a  fitting 
example  of  the  race.     The  forbidden  tree"! 
the  prohibition  to  eat  of  it,  are  symboHc 
representations  of  the  conscience  or  moral 
law  in  man  which,  prior  to  transgression, 
acts  as  warning,  --  Thou  must  not  do  this,' 
woe  betide  thee  if  thou  do  this,  —  and 
which,  after  transgression,  becomes  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil.    This  experience  the 
parable  terms  death  or  a  source  of  death,  — 
"  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
Shalt  surely  die."     Not  physical  death,  as 
theologians  have  strangely  interpreted  the 
saying, -for  Adam  lived  to  what  we  should 
consider  a  good  old  age,  and  doubtless  was 
wiUing  enough  to  die,  and  thought  it  no 
penalty,  when  his  time  came ;  not  phys- 


PARADISE   LOST. 


115 


I 


ical  death,  but  the  death  of  innocence  and 
peace  and  self-content,  which  follows  the 
violation  of  conscience  in  every  criminal 
act. 

At  the  same  time,  inconsistent  though 
it  seem,  and  utterly  at  variance  as  it  is 
with  the  popular  and  ecclesiastical  view 
of  the  fall,  this  very  death  is  a  means  and 
moment  of  progressive  life,  a  step  for- 
ward in  man's  development  and  destiny. 
It  is  so  represented  in  the  allegory.  "And 
the  Lord  God  said,  Behold  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and 
evil."  Herein  is  a  marvellous  thing, 
that  the  first  tmnsgression,  the  fall  from 
childish  innocence,  should  bring  man 
nearer  to  God.  And  yet,  if  we  consider 
it,  the  reason  is  obvious  and  the  fact  is 
in  perfect  accordance  with  the  saying  of 
Cln-ist,  "  There  is  joy  in  heaven  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth  more  than  over  nine- 
ty and  nine  just  persons  which  need  no 
repentance."  Sin  is  the  condition  of  pen- 
itence, and  penitence  is  nearer  to  God 
than  innocence.      The  relation  to  God  of 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


116 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 
Paradise  Lost. 


innocence  is  the  sense  of  divine  rule  and 
jjrotection.  The  relation  to  God  of  peni- 
tence is  craving  and  aspiration,  a  laying 
hold  of  God  with  thought  and  desire,  pre- 
saging a  closer,  more  assured  and  abiding 
union,  because  a  voluntary,  not  an  acci- 
dental one.  The  returned  Prodigal  in  the 
parable  was  nearer  to  his  father  than  the 
elder  son  who  had  ne^'er  left  him. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  precise  mean- 
ing of  the  words  I  have  cited.  The  like- 
ness to  God  is  there  placed  on  the  ground 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, — "He 
is  become  like  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and 
evil."  By  this  I  understand  the  awakening 
of  self-consciousness.  Previous  to  this  cri- 
sis in  his  being,  man  had  lived  as  in  a 
dream.  Earth'  and  sky  and  all  the  beauty 
tliat  is  in  them  had  been  that  dream,  a  part 
of  himself.  Himself  he  saw  not.  The  pas- 
sive subject  of  a  higher  influence,  he  had 
followed  a  given  direction.  The  tree  of 
knowledge  opens  a  new  life.  He  has  now 
become  a  self-conscious,  self-determining 
being;  he  has  taken  his  destiny  into  his 


f 


• 


r 

i 


PARADISE   LOST. 


117 


own  hands  :  he  will  seek  satisfaction  in  his 
own  way.  He  may  think  to  find  it  by 
putting  forth  his  hand  to  take  of  the  tree  of 
life,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  i.  e.  by  ap- 
propriating to  himself  the  good  of  life  with- 
out the  use  of  the  necessary  means,  in  the 
vain  conceit  of  living  forever,  like  God,  in- 
dependent of  earthly  conditions.  •  But  this 
is  not  the  method  by  which  the  destina- 
tion of  man  is  to  be  accomplished.  A  life 
of  care  and  toil  has  been  ordained  for 
him.  By  the  sweat  of  his  face,  by  dif- 
ficulties and  trials,  disappointments  and 
pains,  by  endless  conflict,  by  manifold  ex- 
perience of  good  and  evil,  he  is  kept  in 
remembrance  of  the  everlasting  laws  and 
the  everlasting  ends,  and  disciplined  and 
trained  for  immortality.  His  existence  on 
the  earth  is  not  to  be  a  paradise  of  ease 
and  delight,  but  a  march  and  a  fight ;  his 
goal  of  satisfaction  and  everlasting  life  is 
not  to  be  reached  by  putting  forth  the  hand 
of  desire  to  the  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  gar- 
den, but  by  putting  forth  the  hand  of  dil- 
igence to  the  God-appointed  task.   "  There- 


Chap.  v. 

Paradise  Lost. 


i' 


118 


PEIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


fore  the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  groirnd  from 
whence  he  was  taken." 

The  purport  of  this  story  theologians 
have  termed  the  "  Fall  of  Man."  The  Fall 
of  Man !  what  a  place  it  has  occupied  in 
Christian  theology !  And  yet  the  phrase 
is  not  found  in  all  the  Scriptures  from 
which  Christians  have  professed  to  draw 
their  faith.  Paul,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Church,  brought  forward  the  old  parable 
by  way  of  illustration,  contrasting  Adam 
and  Christ  as  types  of  two  different  orders 
of  spirit  and  schemes  of  life.  A  misun- 
derstanding of  that  illustmtion  has  lain  at 
the  foundation  of  a  false  theology  which 
reigns  till  now,  —  a  theology  which  makes 
the  act  of  an  individual  in  the  befjinnincr 
of  time  the  origin  of  human  nature  and 
the  prime  and  efficient  cause  of  all  the 
evil  that  is  in  the  world. 

Now  there  is  something,  a  fact  of  hu- 
man nature,  which  may  properly  enough 
be  designated  the  Fall  of  Man.  But  that 
fact  is  wholly  independent  of  any  first  man 


PARADISE  LOST. 


119 


h 


I 


and  of  anything  that  happened  in  the 
olden  time,  —  a  fact  of  human  nature  not 
as  vitiated  by  ancestral  transgression,  but 
as  made  and  constituted  by  its  author. 
Man  falls  from  his  childish  estate  of  un- 
conscious innocence,  falls  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  primal  nature,  falls  into  self- 
contradiction  and  sin.  This  is  human 
nature  in  its  innermost  constitution;  not 
a  vicious  inheritance,  but  an  aboriginal, 
primordial  necessity.  We  are  Adam  and 
Eve.  Eden  is  here  to-day  in  every  home 
into  which  an  infant  is  born,  and  the  old 
trial,  with  like  result,  repeats  itself  in  ev- 
ery child  that  comes  into  the  world.  Every 
man  is  an  Adam  made  in  the  likeness  of 
God,  sinning  against  that  likeness  and 
suffering  loss  and  pain,  the  unparadising 
of  the  heart  by  sin.  Into  every  child's 
paradise  the  serpent  comes,  —  some  insid- 
ious moral  mischief,-  some  noxious  exha- 
lation from  the  smooth  abysses  of  its  na- 
ture, some  sinister  thought  suggested  by 
occasion,  some  taint  that  steals  over  the 
soul,  tarnishing  its  morning  bloom  and  de- 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


120 


PRIMEViVL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


flowering  its  unconscious  innocence.     To 
every  being  sooner  or  later  there  comes  a 
time  when  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
awakes  in  the  soul ;  and  though  with  that 
knowledge  the  first  bloom  vanishes  from 
the  face  of  creation,  and  the  veil  of  enchant- 
ment is  lifted  from  life,  yet  is  the  knowl- 
edge and  experience  of  evil  a  necessary  part 
of  man's  education,  a  necessary  stage  in 
the  progress  of  the  soul  to  the  highest  life. 
We  can   know  good   only  through   evil; 
only  by  victory   over  evil   can  good   be 
reached.     Why  it  is. so  passes  understand- 
ing.    The  Indian   asked  Eliot  wliy  God 
did  not   kill   the   Devil  ?     Why  indeed  ? 
Enough  to  know  that,  constituted  as  we 
are,  moral  perfection   is   attainable   only 
through  conflict  with  evil.     That  conflict ! 
—  creation  groans  with  it,  "  groaneth  and 
travaileth   in   pain   together   until    now." 
Nature  proceeds  by  opposition  of  force  to 
force,  of  life  to  life.    All  nature  is  a  strus- 
gle  for  existence,  antagonism  everywhere 
of  creature  with  creature,  of  power  with 
power.    And  so  in  the  moral  world  ''  the 


PARADISE    LOST. 


121 


flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit  and  the  Chap.  v. 
spirit  against  the  flesh  for  they  are  con- ;  Paradise  Lost. 
trary,  the  one  to  the  other."  Unquestion- 
ably God  might  have  formed  man  without 
fleshly  lusts ;  he  might  have  left  out  the 
serpent  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil  from  the  garden  of  life.  And 
suppose  it  were  so.  Wliat  then  ?  We 
should  have  our  Eden  and  should  know 
no  sin,  no  conflict,  and  no  sorrow,  and 
also,  we  must  add,  no  progress,  no  hope, 
no  to-morrow.  Happy,  no  doubt,  are  the 
Eden  days  in  their  freedom  from  care  and 
pain  and  their  beautiful  innocence,  but 
they  are  not  the  best.  Dearer  than  all 
the  joys  of  Eden  is  the  strength  acquired 
by  conflict  with  evil,  more  precious  than 
childish  innocence  are  the  fruits  of  re- 
pentance, and  better  than  never  to  have 
sinned  is  the  conscious  progress  of  awak- 
ened souls  in  the  steep  ascent  of  tlie  mor- 
al life.  This  is  the  doctrine  enounced  by 
Paul :  ''  I  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the 
law."  (Thou  shalt  not  eat  thereof.)  "  The 
law  entered  that  sin  might  abound.     But 

6 


122 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


where  sin  abounded  grace  did  much  more 
abound,  that  as  sin  hath  reigned  unto 
death,  even  so  might  grace  reign  through 
righteousness  unto  eternal  life,  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord." 

Every  child  is  a  new  Adam  and  repeats 
the  fall.  He  is  born  into  a  paradise,  ig- 
norant of  good  and  evil.  That  knowledge, 
so  essential  to  his  growth,  is  the  fruit  of  a 
forbidden  tree.  He  eats  and  his  eyes  are 
opened.  He  discovers  his  naked  self  and 
asks.  What  am  I,  and  wherefore,  and  whith- 
er bound  ?  Then  begins  all  the  hea\7- 
burden  and  woe  of  life.  But  then,  also, 
begins  the  discipline  which  unfolds  a  bet- 
ter life  within.  Through  many  a  fall  and 
many  a  bitter  conflict,  human  nature  wins 
its  way  to  freedom  and  peace.  What  was 
sown  in  weakness  is  raised. in  j)ower,  what 
was  sown  in  tears  is  raised  in  joy.  The 
fall  which  closed  the  first  paradise  against 
us  has  opened  a  new  Eden  in  the  soul. 

So  I  interpret  this  wondrous  apologue 
which  comes  to  us  from  an  unknown  past, 
reaching   back   with   its   reminiscence   to 


PARADISE   LOST. 


123 


original  man,  and  forward  with  its  import 
to  the  end  of  time.  It  is  curious  how 
this  floating  fragment  of  an  ancient  wis- 
dom has  survived,  while  the  solid  fabrics 
of  antiquity  have  perished  and  left  no 
trace  behind.  Generations  have  come  and 
gone,  one  millennium  after  another  has 
glided  by,  cities  rock-walled  and  million- 
peopled  have  arisen  and  disappeared,  em- 
pires have  flourished  and  decayed,  marble 
and  brass  have  crumbled  into  dust,  but 
the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden  still  breathes  the  freshness  of  the 
world's  morning,  while  it  faithfully  pic- 
tures the  life  of  to-dav  and  foreshadows 
the  future  of  all  generations. 

As  the  Old  Testament  begins  Avith  the 
story  of  a  temptation  which  the  natural 
man  encounters  and  to  which  he  succumbs, 
so  the  New  begins  with  a  temptation 
which  the  spiritual  man  encounters  and 
overcomes.  The  last  trial  is  the  comple- 
ment and  compensation  of  the  first.  The 
spiritual  man  is  not  less  human  than  the 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


124 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  V. 

Paradise  Lost. 


natural,  but  more  so;  Christ  is  a  truer 
representative  of  man  than  Adam,  and  if 
in  the  likeness  of  Adam  all  men  fall  and 
die,  in  the  likeness  of  Christ  all  rise  again 
and  live.  The  Rabbins  say  that  Adam 
was  eighty  years  debating  wliether  or  no 
he  would  eat  the  forbidden  fruit  which 
he  ate  at  last.  The  evangelists  relate  that 
Christ  in  the  wilderness  achieved  in  forty 
days  a  complete  victory  over  all  the  power 
of  the  enemy.  If,  then,  our  theology  is 
troubled  with  the  result  of  the  first  temp- 
tation, it  may  solace  itself  with  the  issues 
of  the  second,  by  whicli  the  original  de- 
cision of  human  nature  is  reconsidered 
and  reversed.  The  virtue  is  as  real  and 
influential  as  the  sin,  the  triumph  as 
broad  as  the  fall. 


VI. 

CAIN, 

OE 

PROPERTY    AND    STRIFE     AS    AGENTS    IN 

CIVILIZATION. 


CAIN. 


CAIN. 

« 

"And  Cain  talked  with  Abel  his  brother;  and  it 
came  to  pass  that  when  they  were  in  the  field  Cain 
rose  up  against  Abel  his  brother  and  slew  him."  — 
Genesis  iv.  9. 

"  Property  is  theft,"  was  the  saying  of 
the  Frenph  socialist.*  Property  is  vio- 
lence, says  the  testimony  of  Hebrew  tra- 
dition. This  first  and  necessary  step  in 
civilization,  involving  a  conflict  of  wills 
and  rights,  was  not  to  be  taken  without 
opposition  and  deadly  strife.  The  story  of 
Cain  represents  that  first  step,  represents 
the  beginning  of  civil  society,  as  the  story 
of  Adam  in  Eden  represents  a  state  ante- 
cedent to  civil  life. 

What  the  facts  precisely  were  that  gave 
rise  to  this  story  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
These  dark  traditions  of  a  prehistoric  age 

*  "  La  Proprie'te'  c'est  le  vol."  —  Peoudhon. 


127 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


IfT 


128 


PRIMEVAL   AVORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


CAIN. 


129 


are  not  to  be  received  as  exact  report,  but 


Chap.  VI. 

"^i^^^jslr/;  '^'  ^nythical  investment  of  liistoric   fact. 
civuS^^J^  111  the  absence  of  written  clironicles,  when 
past  events  live  only  in  the  memory,  and 
are  handed  down  by  verbal  transmission 
from  generation  to  generation,  it  is  only 
the   more  salient  points  and  the  promi- 
nent  names    tliat    tradition   retains.     An 
imaginary  case   may   illustrate   this   law. 
Suppose  there  were  no  written  history  of 
our  late  civil  war,  and  no  contemporary 
documents   from   which   to   compile   one. 
Suppose  the  art  of  writing  were  unknown 
and  the  whole  transaction  committed  to 
the  keeping  of  tradition,  that  is,  to  the 
memory  of  successive  generations.     What 
aspect  would  the  facts  be  likely  to  assume 
in  some  distant  age,  say,  after  tlie  lapse 
of  a  thousand  years  ?     Most  probably  that 
of  a  personal  contest  between  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Jefferson  Davis,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  the  former.     The  causes  of 
tlie  contest,  the  rights  of  the  case,  would 
be  variously  conceived  and  represented  by 
descendants    of  the   different  parties,   or 


rather  by  the  different  streams  of  tradi- 
tion originating  with  them,  and  embody- 
ing different  views  of  the  question.  One 
would  represent  it  as  an  act  of  aggression 
perpetrated  by  Lincoln  witli  a  view  to  de- 
prive Davis  of  his  slaves,  another  would 
describe  it  as  a  movement  on  the  part  of 
Davis  to  overrun  the  territory  of  Lincoln 
and  to  occupy  it  with  an  alien  race.  Such 
we  may  imagine  would'  be  the  fragmen- 
tary and  contradictory  notes  that  might 
survive  of  a  great  historic  event,  in  the 
absence  of  written  testimony.  And  such 
I  suppose  to  be  the  character  and  historic 
import  of  this  ancient  fragment  of  Hebrew 
tradition.  I  suppose  it  to  be  the  sedi- 
ment and  mythical  deposit  of  some  his- 
toric event,  some  great  convulsion  of  the 
early  world,  of  which  the  names  of  Cain 
and  Abel  have  survived  as  prominent  ac- 
tors, —  a  fatal  encounter  between  the  two 
parties  represented  by  these  names. 

This  critical  event  which  forms  an  epoch 
in  human  history  is  here  presented  in  the 

form  of  an  apologue.     Two  brothers,  the' 
6*  • 


Chap.  VL 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erly ami  Strife 
as  Ai'-ents  in 
Civilization. 


*'''''*i''-i<Mt>U'*,«mKmmMmmi>mmmimimmm^sK 


130 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  A'^fnts  in 
Civilization. 


first  of  woman  born,  dwell  side  by  side  in 
a  region  bordering  on  the  land  of  Eden,  a 
region  still  glowing  witli  the  beauty  of 
primal  nature  and  rejoicing  in  tlie  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord.  Inclination  leads  them 
different  ways ;  they  apply  themselves 
each  to  his  chosen  pursuit.  One  pastures 
his  flocks  and  leads  the  roving  life  of  a 
shepherd,  the  other,  more  progressive,  tills 
the  ground  and  seeks  in  the  sweat  of  his 
face  a  more  varied  subsistence  than  un- 
tilled  nature  even  then  could  supply.  The 
Lord,  it  is  said,  favored  Abel  rather  than 
Cain ;  the  shepherd  obtains  some  advan- 
tage over,  the  planter.  Immediately  the 
world  becomes  too  narrow  for  the  brothers. 
Violence  ensues,  the  elder  lifts  his  hand 
against  the  younger  and  slays  him.  For 
this  he  is  driven  from  his  native  land  and 
finally  takes  up  his  abode  in  Eastern  Asia, 
where  he  builds  a  city,  and  where  he  and 
his  descendants  introduce  the  arts  of  civ- 
ilized life. 

Such  is   the   form   in  which   tradition 
has  embodied  some  of  the  facts  connected 


CAIN. 


131 


with  the  first  division  of  the  human  fam- 
ily. The  facts  appear  to  have  come  to  us 
througli  a  colored  medium,  —  a  medium 
colored  in  the  interest  of  the  shepherd  race. 
We  have  here  one  side  of  the  story ;  there 
is  another  version  of  it,  preserved  by  some 
tribe  of  the  Semite  stock,  in  which  Abel 
appears  as  the  aggressor  and  Gain  as  the 
victim. 

What  is  clearly  historical  is  the  fact  of 
a  rupture  between  two  classes  or  tribes ; 
a  nomadic  and  an  agricultural  people,  and 
the  consequent  migration  of  the  latter  in 
an  eastward  direction  from  the  land  of 
their  nativity.  The  story  supposes  some 
advance  in  the  arts  of  life.  It  is  no  rude 
"  state  of  nature "  so  called,  no  infant  so- 
ciety that  is  brought  to  view.  Between 
the  period  represented  by  Adam  and  that 
represented  by  Cain  and  Abel,  a  long  tract 
of  time  must  be  supposed  to  have  inter- 
vened. The  condition  of  i)rimitive  na- 
ture is  outgrown ;  artificial  life  has  begun. 
We  find  man  in  possession  of  domestic 
animals,  which  he  has  learned  to  train  and 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization- 


132  PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


make  profitable.     We  find  him  tilling  the 
ground,  consequently  in  possession  of  agri- 
cultural implements,  which,  however  rude, 
presuppose  skilled  labor  for  tlieir  inven- 
tion.    All  this  implies  progress,  and  pro- 
gress implies  time.     Two  distinct  callino-s 
—  two  at  least  — have  developed  them- 
selves, —  the  shepherd's  and  the  husband- 
man's.   Hence  conflicting  interests  and  oc- 
casional collisions,— the  herdsman  claimintr 
unlimited  right  of  pasturage,  the  planters 
seeking  to  reserve  and  enclose  a  portion 
of  the  land  for  agricultural  use.     It  is 
likely  that  both  parties  had  cause  of  com- 
plaint.    On  the  one  hand,  the  sequestra- 
tion of  what  had  thitherto  been  common 
would   seem  an  invasion   of  his  natural 
rights  to  the  herdsman ;  and,  on  the  other, 
the  damage   done  to  his   plantations   by 
grazing  herds  must  have  been  an  intol- 
erable nuisance  to  the  planter.     Both  are 
represented  as  addicted  to  the  worship  of 
Jehovah.     "  Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of 
the  ground  an  offering  unto  the  Lord,  and 
Abel,  he  also  brought  of  the  firstlings  of 


CAIN. 


133 


his  flock  and  of  the  fat  thereof.  And  the 
Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  his  offer- 
ing, but  unto  Cain  and  liis  offering  he  had 
not  respect."  Here  we  have  evidently  the 
speculation  of  some  narrator  who  has  col- 
ored the  tradition  with  his  own  conceit. 
To  supx30se  that  God  is  better  pleased 
with  the  offering  of  slaughtered  lambs 
than-  of  fresh  fruits  is  a  monstrous  mis- 
conception of  the  Godhead.  It  was  some 
reflected  idea  of  atoning  blood,  as  consti- 
tuting the  value  of  sacrifice,  which  gave 
this  color  to  the  story. 

I  cannot  believe  divine  preference,  or 
envy  of  divine  preference,  as  the  narrative 
allefjes,  to  have  been  the  true  cause  of  the 
rupture  between  the  shepherds  and  the 
husbandmen.  AVhatever  the  cause  (most 
likely  a  question  of  property,  a  disputed 
title),  the  rupture  issued  in  open  violence. 
There  is  fighting  and  killing ;  the  shep- 
herds are  routed  and  slain.  But  violence 
fails  to  secure  for  the  victor  the  peaceable 
possession  of  the  ground.  Immediately 
he  migrates  in  search  of  new  settlements, 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Ai^ents  in 
Civilization. 


^*^^^^*^*-5^s»^^!^s^^3x-«r»r!!!r 


li>«>kiSMM«to 


*»i's'«pWp''  Ss*-««M~iflJ^ 


-■»^-4„>=^,.,  '^<«'-"'*»~»«**r-sssafeijfc.»..M««,«t 


*imiikM»UinUmmtmitMm\  mim^ivittt-^wt'vlMiAi'mc^^^ 


m 


134 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


CAIN. 


135 


Chap.  VI 


Caiji,  or  Prop- 
en  If  and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


and  seeks  elsewhere  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity denied   him   in  liis   former  home. 
[  His  emigration  consummates  the  division 
of  the  human  femily. 

After  this,  in  the  Biblical  story,  there 
are  two  races,  represented  respectively  by 
the  progeny  of  Cain  and  that  of  Abel  (or 
Seth  *),  the  former  energetic,  industrious, 
progressive,  covering  the  face  of  the  earth 
with  the  fruits  of  their  labor;  the  other 
God-fearing  and  religious,  but  apparently 
inactive  and  stationary.     In  the  course  of 
time  the  two  races  unite.     "  The  sons  of 
God    took   unto   themselves    wives    from 
among  the  daughters  of  men."     The  fruit 
of  this  union  was  a  generation  of  men  dis- 
tinguished by  their   prowess  and  might. 
"Giants"  they  are  called   in  the   Scrip- 
ture, "men  of  renown  in  the  olden  time."  f 
But,  on  the  whole,  the  union  serves  rather 
to  quicken  and  extend  the  bad  than  to 

*  Seth  is  the  name  of  a  god,  and  Enos,  Iiis  son 
means  man.     Accordingly,  the  genealogy  in  Genesis 
V    begins  properly  with   Cainan  (Cain).   Enos  boin^ 
one  with  Adam,  and  Seth  tlic  Creator. 
I      t  See  Genesis  vi.  4. 


nourish  and  diffuse  the  good.  The  cor- 
ruptions of  a  selfish  and  material  civil- 
ization act  with  fatal  effect  on  society, 
sapping  the  foundations  of  social  life. 
General  depravity  ensues ;  "  all  flesh  had 
corrupted  its  way  upon  the  earth."  Then 
the  great  catastroj^lie  of  the  Deluge  closes 
for  that  portion  of  earth  tlie  Biblical  drama 
of  the  early  world. 

The  point  of  chief  interest  in  this  tradi- 
tion is  the  illustration  it  presents  of  the 
function  of  property,  and  that  of  war,  in 
the  civil  and  moral  education  of  man. 

I  assume  that  the  real  cause  of  dissen- 
sion between  the  two  parties  was  a  ques- 
tion of  property,  a  disputed  title  to  lands 
reserved  for  agricultural  use.  Property 
begins  with  agriculture.  The  very  word 
Cain,  etymologically  interpreted,  tells  the 
story.  Cain  means  possession ;  and  Cain 
is  the  first  tiller  of  the  ground.  The  cul- 
tivation of  the  land  requires  fixtures  and 
a  right  of  ownership  in  the  soil.  The 
first  attempt  i(^  enforce  this  right  gives 
rise  to  dissension  and  strife.     It  restricts 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


""     t  "  *jftf'-''tMI«SJW'*»WSK«^^lW*WS^*W''**^''WffM'  S 


136 


PRIMEVxVL   AVORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


CAIN. 


137 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  A<ients  in 
Civilization. 


the  freedom  of  pasturage,  it  avenges  the 
incursion  of  grazing  herds.  Cain,  the  pos- 
sessor, is  the  first  murderer.  But  he  is 
also  the  first  civilizer ;  he  builds  the  first 
city;  he  is  father  of  tlie  first  artificers 
in  brass  and  iron.  To  him  and  his  prog- 
eny the  cause  of  productive  industry, — 
whatever  concerns  the  material  well-be- 
ing of  society,  all  the  embellishment  and 
beauty  of  life,  is  ^assigned.  All  this  re- 
sults from  the  institution  of  property,  and 
may  trace  it&  genealogy  to  Cain.  Social 
morality  acknowledges  the  same  parent- 
age. It  was  property  —  the  idea  of  own- 
ership —  that  first  developed  the  sense  of 
right,  on  which  all  morality  is  founded. 
And  not  only  so,  but  most  of  the  duties 
of  social  life,  and  most  of  the  topics  and 
occasions  of  moral  effort  and  moral  frrowth, 
which  society,  as  now  constituted,  fur- 
nishes, are  directly  or  indirectly  connected 
with  property.  A  large  part  of  the  moral 
education,  or  means  of  education,  which 
society  possesses,  as  now  coj^stituted,  w^ould 
be  wanting  if  the  right  of  private  accumu- 


1 


lation  and  private  possession  were  done 
away. 

In  the  order  of  Providence  our  virtues 
and  our  Vices  are  near  neighbors,  have 
their  roots  intermixed,  —  nay,  sometimes 
spring  from  the  same  root;  as  in  nature 
foul  and  fair  have  one  parentage.  The 
compost  with  which  you  enrich  your  gar- 
den contains  the  germs  of  the  weeds  that 
infest  it.  The  brilliant  flame  which  lights 
your  dwelling,  turning  night  into  day,  is  a 
fetid  vapor,  an  offence  that  poisons  the  air, 
a  mischief  that  threatens  destruction,  when, 
by  any  abnormal  vent,  it  escapes  its  pris- 
on-house. If  property  in  one  operation 
is  jealousy  and  wrath  and  violence  and 
fratricide,  in  another  it  is  order  and  jus- 
tice and  progress  and  beauty  and  mercy, 
—  a  minister  of  moral  and  spiritual  life. 
Man  has  a  natural  right  to  the  products 
of  his  labor,  and  unless  that  right  had 
been  maintained,  —  when  necessary,  main- 
tained by  force,  —  society  would  never 
have  advanced  beyond  its  original  savage 
state.     §ocial  progress  is  possible  only  by 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


/ 


fe'ii,-*]"  .  }««»«, sun-jift^i-  iw^n^  -^ 


'^e^^^^sw^^^w^^it^^wwiiH^t^^  «* ,  g-^^j^*^^. 


^33»;i«eMW##HMMiii»iMW«i^M 


"S^SW^i^      fl*  i'gr»*1%SfiHj^  ^^^    ; 


1 


138 


PEIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VI. 


Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


assiduous  industry,  and  industry  requires 
a  motive  power  which,  as  man  now  is,  the 
lust  and  the  hojDe  of  private  gain  alone 
can  supply.  All  attempts  to  dispense  with 
property,  all  social  enterprises  based  on 
community  of  goods,  have  been  found,  and 
will  ever  be  found,  to  take  more  from  hu- 
man weal  on  the  whole  than  they  give  in 
return. 

Nevertheless,  in  all  such  attempts  there 
is  a  truth  and  a  principle  which  craves 
recognition  and  behooves  to   be  adopted 
in  practice.     Namely,  this:  that  the  rich 
man  owes  a  debt  to  society,  by  whose  con- 
sent and  aid  alone  it  is  possible  for  him 
to  accumulate  wealth,  or  inherit  wealth; 
that    he  is    bound    to    render  as    he  has 
received,  to  give  a  proportionate  part  of 
his  havings,  whether  earned  or  inherited ; 
not  only  in  the  way  of  tax  to  to^vn  and 
State,   but   in   voluntary   contribution   to 
social  needs,  to  the  aid  and  relief  of  the 
poor  and  distressed.     I  say  a  proportion- 
ate part,  —  the  rich  especially  a  propor- 
'  tionate  part.     The  rich  man  has  no  right 


CAIN. 


139 


to  the  sole  and  exclusive  use  of  his  wealth. 
It  is  not  his  own  "  so  proper  "  as  to  justify 
his  spending  it  all  in  selfish  gratifications. 
He  owes  it  to  society,  and  though  it  is  a 
debt  whose  payment  cannot  be  enforced 
by  legal  process,  the  time  will  come  when 
that  debt  shall  be  reckoned  a  debt  of  hon- 
or, and  when  not  to  pay  it  will  be  regarded 
as  disgraceful  as  it  is  not  to  pay  any  other 
just  debt  which  the  debtor  has  the  means 
of  discharging.  The  time  will  come  when 
the  rich  man  who  refuses  to  contribute 
his  proportionate  share  to  the  public  weal 
shall  suffer  social  degradation,  as  already 
he  stands  degraded  in  his  own  conscious- 
ness, when  he  judges  himself  by  the  moral 
law,  and  compares  his  deeds  and  his  goods, 
the  benefactions  bestowed  with  the  ben- 
efits received  from  his  kind. 

In  the  story  of  Cain  it  is  shown  that 
the  right  of  property  is  established  by 
force.  That  first  step  in  civilization  was 
achieved  by  conflict,  and  every  succeeding 
step  of  deep  and  lasting  import  has  been 
achieved   in   the   same   way.      It  is   the 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


;i>teM&K>A,t«(f gM.lu>  «o 


Vri^f^-^-^- 


W„    f^H/i^O'^J^, 


140 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION-. 


CAIN. 


141 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty aii'J  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


metliocl   of   history.      If  we   cast    but    a 
glance   along  the   tide  of  time  we  shall 
see  that  the  one  universal  condition,  if 
not  the  prime  agent,  of  civil  progress  has 
been   war.     Not   a   step   has   society  ad- 
vanced which  has  not  been  contested  with 
arms  and  purchased  with  blood.    The  civil 
and  religious  liberty  we  hold  so  dear,  the 
right  of  private  judgment,  the  right  of  self- 
government,  the  establishment  of  every  im- 
portant principle  in  civil  legislation,  —  with 
what  conflicts  and  fightings  and  bloodshed 
these  blessings  have  been  secured!     Pe- 
riods of  peace  in  the  history  of  nations 
have  been  but  armistices,  brief  temporary 
breathing  spaces  interposed  in  the  stated, 
normal,   secular    war   which    began   with 
Cain,  and  has  raged  in  our  day  with  un- 
abated violence.     Society  advances   from 
conflict  to  conflict.     So  it  has  been  hith- 
erto, and  so  it  will  be  till  the  animal  in 
man  succimibs  to  the  spiritual.     It  is  the 
animal  in   man  whence  wars   and  fifjht- 
ings  come,  and  though  war  has  been   a 
minister  of  progress,  of  spiritual  progress 


as  well  as  material,  it  is,  nevertheless,  in 
its  proper  nature  carnal  and  devilish.  The 
fruit  of  the  spirit  is  peace.  War  has 
been  said  to  be  a  conflict  of  ideas.  Say, 
rather,  it  is  a  conflict  of  interests  with 
ideas,  or  with  other  interests.  Passions 
war,  ideas  never.  Pure  spirit  is  incapable 
of  passion,  it  can  will  no  evil,  but  only 
good.  Its  end  is  blessing  and  its  method 
love.  If  ever  spirit  gains  the  ascendency 
in  human  nature,  acts  of  violence  will  be- 
come an  impossibihty,  and  war  in  all  its 
kinds  obsolete. 

That  spirit,  though  never  supreme,  has 
never  been  wanting  in  human  kind.  The 
fiercest  times  have  been  flavored  by  it,  the 
rudest  tribes  have  felt  its  power.  A  prin- 
ciple of  life  imparted  to  the  world  with  its 
first  human  occupants,  it  has  ever  been  at 
work,  informing,  transforming,  gradually 
subduing  the  world  to  itself.  The  process 
is  as  sure  as  any  process  in  nature.  As 
sure,  though  it  may  be  as  slow  as  that 
which  shaped  the  solid  earth  by  long  ac- 
cretion from  the  fiery  deep.    Both  process- 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Agents  in 
Civilization. 


n 


142 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VI. 

Cain,  or  Prop- 
erty and  Strife 
as  Ai;;ents  in 
Civilization. 


es  have  one  Author,  both  are  births  of  one 
creative  Word,  both  agencies  of  one  al- 
mighty Power.  As  earthly  nature  duly 
pursues  her  appointed  course,  arrives  in 
due  order  to  her  destined  growths,  and 
perfects  in  time  her  several  kinds,  so  the 
spirit,  or  heavenly  nature,  proceeds  ever- 
more in  its  fixed  intent,  and  moves  and 
grows  in  all  its  organs,  until  it  shall  fill 
its  foreordained  sphere  and  mature  at  last 
its  consummate  fruit. 


1 


I 


YII. 


NINE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY-NINE  YEARS? 


&"2T»i**2K«S^^»»?< 


|T*(*-*-f  W41,    ii  J  «*ff     /I    t  >^m  ^  ^ -v  <•/•/ 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<^^^«s*i»s^ss^Ksr 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND    SIXTY-NINE   YEARS  ? 


145 


NINE    HUKDEED   AND    SIXTY- 
NINE  YEAES? 

"  And  all  the  days  of  Methuselah  were  nine  hundred 
and  sixty  and  nine  years."  —  Genesis  v.  27. 

The  dates  which  Hebrew  tradition  as- 
signs to  the  lives  of  men  before  the  flood 
present  a  problem  that  much  perplexes 
the  Biblical  critic.  That  the  life  of  a  hu- 
man individual  could  ever  have  attained 
the  age  of  nine  hundred  years  and  up- 
wards reason  finds  altogether  incredible. 
On  the  other  hand,  that  the  figures  are 
mere  inventions,  that  they  represent  noth- 
ing but  a  freak  of  the  narrator,  is  al- 
most equally  incredible.  Nor  is  it  at 
all  likely  that  these  dates  are  accidental 
corruptions  of  primeval  tradition.  For 
where,  in  the  absence  of  written  docu- 
ments, oral  tradition  is  charged  with  the 
keeping  and  transmitting  of  past  events, 
7 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


146 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years? 


it  is  apt  to  be  faithful  to  its  trust  and  es- 
pecially tenacious  of  numbers.  Moreover, 
the  numbers  here  are  too  particular  and 
too  sharply  defined  to  favor  the  supposi- 
tion of  accidental  corruption.  Accidental 
corruption  in  such  matters  is  a  relaxation 
of  memory,  and  memory  relieves  itself,  not 
by  invention,  but  by  the  substitution  of 
round  numbers  for  those  which  are  more 
exact. 

That  is  a  poor  faith  which  contents  it- 
self with  thoughtlessly  receiving,  and  that 
is  equally  poor  criticism  which  contents 
itself  with  thoughtless  denial.  The  figures 
mean  something,  but  precisely  what  they 
mean  is  matter  of  doubtful  conjecture. 
The  most  plausible  hypothesis  is  that  they 
designate  epochs  of  history  marked  by 
certain  predominant  names,*  or  else  that 
they  measure  the  prevalence  of  certain 
genealogical  types  which  naturally  enough 
bear  the  name  of  their  typical  representa- 
tives ;  in  other  words,  that  they  represent 

*  See   Bunsen's   "Bibclwerk,"   9*"  Ilalbband,  for 
an  explanation  of  the  patriarchal  genealogies. 


NINE  HUNDRED  AND   SIXTY-NINE  YEARS? 


147 


the  duration  of  families  instead  of  individ- 
uals. We  know  the  proneness  of  the  He- 
brew people  to  give  to  individual  names  a 
collective  signification,  i.  e.  to  speak  of  a 
tribe  or  a  nation  as  an  individual.  "  Ben- 
jamin," they  say,  did  this  and  that,  when 
they  mean  the  whole  tribe  of  which  Ben- 
jamin was  the  head.  "  Israel,"  they  say, 
when  they  mean  the  Israelitish  nation. 
Eemembering  this,  I  find  it  not  unlikely 
that  the  names  of  Cainan  and  Mahaleel 
and  Jared  and  Methuselah  are  used  col- 
lectively, —  used  to  denote  tribes  and 
epochs  as  well  as  individuals. 

Those  readers  of  the  Bible  and  those 
commentators  who  think  that  the  cause 
of  religion  is  concerned  in  the  literal  un- 
derstanding of  the  text,  reject,  of  course, 
such  interpretations  and  insist  on  the  com- 
monly received  term  of  patriarchal  life. 
One  writer,  even,  gravely  suggests  that  the 
wickedness  of  man  before  the  flood  may 
be  explained  by  the  patriarchs  having  so 
much  time  on  their  hands.  These  people 
contend  that   the   human   frame,  though 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


148 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION 


Chap.  VIL 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


long  since  incapable  of  half  or  a  quarter 
part  of  the  wear  ascribed  to  Methuselah, 
may  nevertheless  have  had  that  persist- 
ency then,  when  the  earth  was  young 
and  the  habits  of  life  so  simple,  and  dele- 
terious uses  so  few,  as  must  be  supposed 
to  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  antedilu- 
vian world.  But  this  supposed  simplicity 
of  habit  is  a  pure  assumption,  unauthor- 
ized by  any  indications  in  the  record,  and 
inconsistent  with  the  crowded  life  which 
such  longevity  must  needs  engender.  It 
conflicts  with  a  state  of  society  in  which 
''every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of 
man's  heart  was  only  evil  continually." 
And  as  to  the  newness  of  the  earth  in 
those  ages,  it  does  not  appear  that  new 
countries  are  especially  favorable  to  length 
of  life,  but  rather  the  reverse.  The  atmos- 
pheric influences  of  lands  lately  opened 
to  human  occupancy  are  quite  as  likely 
to  be  prejudicial  to  health  as  those  of  old- 
er and  long-peopled  climes.  The  only  cir- 
cumstance in  the  life  of  the  antediluvians 
which  would  seem  to  be  peculiarly  con- 


NINE  HUNDRED   AND    SIXTY-NINE   YEARS? 


149 


ducive  to  longevity  was  the  absence  .of 
those    entailed    diseases   which   enter  so 
largely  into  the  heirloom  of  later   time. 
The   human   organism    must    then    have 
been  free  from  hereditary  taint.     No  sick- 
ly tendencies  descending  from  sire  to  son, 
and  gaining  strength  with  each   genera- 
tion, had  corrupted   the  blood.     Man  in 
our  day  is  the  victim  of  long-descended 
infirmities.     Scarce  any  are  born  sound; 
the  major  part  come  into  life  already  in- 
fected with  bodily  ails,  or  predisposed  to 
one  or  another  disease.     Palsy,  fever,  con- 
sumption,  are   old    inhabitants   of   every 
civilized  land  and  liave  hereditary  rights 
which   are   our   hereditary  wrongs.     The 
disorders   which   prey   upon   human   life 
and  shorten  the  term  of  earthly  years  are 
not  so  much  the  result  of  personal  impru- 
dence or  exposure  as  they  are  of  heredi- 
tary predisposition.     It  is  not  altogether 
the  food. we  use,  the  climate  we  inhabit,  the 
life  we  lead,  which  makes  us  what  we  are 
in  our  bodily  estate,  but  what  we  inherit 
from  our  progenitors  and  their  progenitors 


Chap.  VIL 

Ni7ie  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


150 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hunrhed 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


through  many  generations.     In  each  gen- 
eration are  concentrated  tlie   sickly  ten- 
dencies of  each  preceding.     Wliatever  is 
evil  in  our  physical  condition  is  the  prod- 
uct of  ancestral  influences  acting  through 
immemorial  time.     From  all  this  the  ear- 
lier inhabitants  of  the  earth  were  exempt. 
Their  bodies  were  free  of  the  mortmain 
of  former  generations.     The  uncorrupted 
juices  of  primal  nature  coursed   through 
their  veins.     They  had  only  their  own  im- 
prudences, not  those  of  a  distant  ancestry, 
to  expiate.     To  this    immunity  we   may 
reasonably  ascribe  a  term  of  life  far  ex- 
ceeding the  present,  but  it  does  not  ex- 
plain these  patriarchal  dates.     The  fresh- 
ness of  primal  nature  does  not  explain  a 
life  of  a  thousand  years. 

Physiology  objects  that  the  life  of  the 
human  organism  is  not,  under  any  sup- 
posable  conditions,  capable  of  such  dura- 
tion. The  possible  term  of  human  life, 
under  influences  the  most  favorable,  is 
supposed  by  one  physiologist*  —  the  on- 

*  Haller. 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE  YEARS?  151 


ly  one,  I  believe,  who  allows  it  that  ca- 
pacity —  to  reach  the  length  of  nearly  two 
hundred  years.     To  suppose  it  prolonged 
to  nearly  five  times  that  amount  implies 
one  of  two  things,  —  an  organization  so  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  we  understand  by 
the  human  as  to  put  the  beings  to  whom 
it  is  ascribed  beyond  the  pale  of  humanity, 
and  thus  to  sever  our  connection  with  the 
antediluvian  world,  or  else  a  continuous 
miracle  wrought  for  the  preservation   of 
the  lives  so  prolonged.    On  the  latter  sup- 
position, the  question  is  between  the  prob- 
ability of  such  a  miracle  and  the  proba- 
bility of  a  misunderstandmg  of  the  record 
which  seems  to  affirm  this  length  of  years. 
Moreover,  it  should  be  noticed  in  this 
connection  that  the  record  itself  represents 
Jehovah  as  saying,  before  the  flood,  that 
"  the  days "  of  man  "  shall  be  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years."     "  My  spirit  shall  not 
always  remain  in  man  "  (not  "  strive  with 
man,"  as  our  version  has  it)  "  for  he  is  flesh 
and  his  days  shall  be  a  hundred  and  twen- 
ty years."     If,  therefore,  we  understand 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


152  PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE   YEARS  ? 


153 


Chap.  VII 


Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


literally  the  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
years  of  Methuselah  and  the  nine  hundred 
and  fifty  of  :N'oah,  we  bring  the  record  into 
conflict  with  itself. 

But   let  us   for  an   instant   admit   the 
vulgar  interpretation  of  these  dates  and 
endeavor  to  represent  to  ourselves  a  life 
of  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years.      I 
fancy  that  those  who  acquiesce  so  readily 
m  this  idea  have  no  very  clear  concep- 
tion of  its  import.     To  make  the  suppo- 
sition plain  let  us  bring  it  home  to  our 
own  time.     Suppose  an  individual  of  the 
age  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years 
to  be  living  at  this  moment.     See  what  a 
reach  of  history  his  experience  'takes  in. 
He  was  born,  we  will  say,  in  England,  in 
the  year  900,  in  the  very  centre  and  mid- 
night of  what  are  called  the  Dark  Ages. 
Six  centuries  had  piled  tlieir  weight  upon 
his  head  when  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica, and  when  Luther  confronted  Empire 
and  Clmrch  at  the  diet  of  Worms.     He 
recalls  tlie  shudder  which  went  through 
Christendom  when,  at   the   close   of  the 


tenth  century,  it  was  commonly  believed 
that  the  end  of  the  world  was  at  hand. 
He  kept  the  run  of  the  Crusades,  from  tlie 
mad  expedition  of  Peter  the  Hermit  to 
the  death  of  Louis  IX.  He  was  older 
than  any  one  now  living  on  this  earth 
when  William  the  Norman,  at  the  head 
of  his  barons,  invaded  England  and  vrrest- 
ed  the  kingdom  from  the  Saxons.  He  re- 
members the  days  of  Edgar  and  St.  Duns- 
tan;  he  can  almost  remember  Alfred,  whose 
reign  had  not  yet  expired  when  he  was 
born. 

Now  the  annals  of  the  antediluvian  world 
may  not  have  presented  a  record  so  event- 
ful as  the  last  thousand  years  of  European 
^history.  But  those  ages  were  by  no  means 
a  blank  on  the  scroll  of  time.  Wherever 
men  are  congregated,  there  is  history,—, 
commerce  and  arts,  revolutions  and  disturb- 
ances, expeditions,  wars,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
dynasties  and  nations.  Imagine  the  mental 
condition  of  a  man  whose  experience  em- 
braces a  millennium  of  history  !  The  bur- 
den of  such  a  past  I  conceive  would  be 

7* 


Chap.  VIL 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


<s» 


154 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sirty-nine 

Years  ? 


greater  than  the  human  intellect  could 
bear.  The  brain  would  sink  beneath  the 
load ;  would  collapse  into  idiocy  or  ex- 
plode in  madness.  Or,  if  the  brain  did 
not  give  way,  the  mind  preoccupied  with 
the  multitude  of  its  memories,  haunted  by 
the  thronging  images  of  so  many  centu- 
ries, would  become  the  captive  of  its  own 
experience.  Imprisoned  in  the  past,  it 
would  lose  its  hold  on  the  present,  would 
lose  its  interest  in  the  things  of  to-day; 
and  the  life  so  prolonged  would  become 
a  burden  to  itself  and  the  world.  Even 
within  the  limits  of  life  as  now  bounded 
by  the  fourscore  years  of  extreme  dura- 
tion the  octogenarian  loses  the  capacity 
of  progress,  not  so  much  by  the  failure  of 
the  understanding  as  by  the  pressure  of 
the  past  preoccupying  the  mind  and  indis- 
posing it  to  fresh  acquisition. 

It  might  be  furthermore  objected  to  the 
literal  understanding  of  these  dates,  that  if 
the  lives  to  which  they  are  assigned  were 
not  exceptional,  —  and  I  know  of  no  rea- 
son for  supposing  them  to  have  been  so, — 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE   YEARS  ? 


155 


if  nine  hundred  years  was  the  ordinary 
date  of  human  existence  in  those  days, 
and  if  the  race  was  then  as  prolific  as 
now,  and  wide-spread  death  by  war  and 
pestilence  no  more  frequent  than  now,  the 
earth's  population  must  have  greatly  out- 
grown the  capacity  of  the  then  known 
world  to  support. 

But  not  to  insist  on  this  obvious  view, 
I  find  a  stronger  objection  in  the  insup- 
portableness,  not  to  say  inconceivableness, 
of  such  a  life.  The  material  difficulties 
are  great,  but  the  moral  difficulties  are 
greater.  I  repeat  that  a  life  so  protracted 
would  be  an  intolerable  burden.  The 
pleasure  to  be  derived  from  our  connec- 
tion with  this  world  —  the  satisfaction 
which  even  the  most  happily  endowed 
can  find  in  it  —  is  limited,  and  when  that 
limit  is  reached  the  connection  becomes  an 
evil  and  a  pain.  So  long  as  one  is  capa- 
ble of  learning  and  producing,  though  the 
heart  have  lost  its  freshness  and  the  world 
its  gloss,  some  relish  of  life  will  remain. 
But  the  mind's  capacity  of  learning  and 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


156 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIL 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


producing,  in  a  mortal  body,  is  bounded, 
and  there  conies  a  time  when  the  strong- 
est  mind  can  no  longer  take  in  new  ideas, 
by  reason,  as  I  have  said,  of  the  pressure 
of  the  past  and  the  preoccupation  of  the 
ground  by  tyrannous  experience.  The 
tablets  are  full,  there  is  no  more  room  for 
new  entries.  And  because  the  mind  can 
no  longer  take  in,  it  can  no  longer  give 
forth ;  the  influx  and  reflux,  the  tidal  play 
of  the  intellect  is  stopped,  and  the  indi- 
vidual is  so  far  dead,  though  sense  and 
bodily  health  remain.  There  comes  a 
time  when  the  mind  outgrows  this  pres- 
ent world,  i.  e.  outgrows  its  connection 
with  it;  not  because  it  has  appropriated 
all  that  is  in  it  and  learned  the  uttermost 
it  has  to  teach,  but  because  it  has  learned 
all  and  appropriated  all  that  its  own  ca- 
pacity allows.  For,  though  the  mind  may 
be  infinitely  progressive,  the  organ  by 
which  it  works  is  not.  If  eternal  pro- 
gress is  the  law  of  the  one,  evolution 
within  given  limits  —  growth,  maturity, 
decay  —  is  the   law  of  the  other.     Sup- 


NINE  HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE  YEARS? 


157 


pose,  in  a  subject  of  Methuselah's  age, 
the  beginning  of  decay  to  be  long  post- 
poned ;  give  the  organization  a  century  to 
grow  in,  and,  putting  decline  out  of  view, 
suppose  it  to  remain  for  centuries  station- 
ary at  its  highest  culminating  point ;  how 
would  a  stationary  organization  suit  a 
spirit  capable  of  infinite  progress  and  con- 
scious of  that  capacity  ?  Imagine  the  or- 
gan as  perfect  as  human  conditions  will 
admit,  you  cannot  have  it  so  perfect  as  to 
be  entirely  plastic  and  obedient  to  the 
soul.  It  cannot  accommodate  itself  to  an 
ever-growing  spiritual  life ;  it  must  come 
in  time  to  be  a  hindrance  and  a  prison  to 
the  spirit  that  will  on  and  refuses  to  ac- 
cept an  earthly  goal.  There  comes  a  time 
when  the  heart,  too,  as  well  as  the  mind, 
outgrows  this  present  world,  is  sated  with 
its  uses,  distastes  its  gifts,  and  sends  the 
thought  of  its  longing  beyond  the  bounds 
of  time.  It  is  true,  that,  as  life  is  now 
constituted,  the  aged,  while  bodily  health 
and  a  certain  degree  of  faculty  remain,  are 
contented  to  live  and  linger  on  in  slow 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


•/ — 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


/  Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


decay.      But   that  contentment,  I   fancy, 
is  sustained   by  the  knowledge  that  the 
end  is  near,  and  perhaps  by  the  forefeel- 
ing  of  immortality,  by  a  glimpse  of  the 
dawn  of  the  great  Beyond,  —  "  the  morn- 
ing twilight  of  a  sun  that  shines  not  here 
on  things  below."     But  if  it  were  told  to 
the  man  of  ninety  that  the  end  is  not  yet, 
that  centuries   more   must  elapse   before 
that  dawn  shall  deepen  into  day,  I  doubt 
he  would  not  rejoice  in  the  tidings.     For 
though  the  vigor  of  manhood  should  re- 
main, though  the  ninety  years  should  re- 
tain the  strength  and  faculty  of  forty,  he 
would  feel  that   those   ninety  years  had 
given  him  all  that  this  life  can  yield,  that 
new  conditions  were  needed  to  unfold  the 
deeper  lying  powers  and  to  quicken  and 
perfect  the  inner  life.     A  healthy  nature 
rejoices  in  life,  and  in  moments  when  in- 
stinct is  stronger  than  reason,  may  w4sh 
it  protracted  beyond  the  ordinary  term  of 
of  mortal  years.     The  English  humorist 
expresses  a  common  feeling  when  confess- 
ing an  "intolerable  disinclination  to  dy- 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE  YEARS? 


159 


mg. 


"I  am  not  content  to  pass  away 
'like  a  w^eaver's  shuttle.'  These  meta- 
phors solace  me  not,  nor  sweeten  the  un- 
palatable draught  of  mortality I  am 

in  love  with  this  green  earth,  —  the  face 
of  town  and  country;   the  unspeakable 
rural  solitudes  and  the  sweet  security  of 
streets.     I   would   set  up  my  tabernacle 
here.     I  am  content  to  stand  still  at  the 
age  to  which  I  am  arrived,  —  I  and  my 
friends."     It  is  the  natural  feeling  of  a 
man  in  the  prime  of  life  to  wish  to  stand 
still,  —  "I   and   my   friends,"  —  to   stand 
still  with  them  and  grow  no  older.     But 
unfortunately,  or  fortunately,  life  will  not 
stand  still ;  w^e  cannot  live  without  grow- 
ing older;  and  age,  if  it  does  not  bring 
decay,  will  bring  bitter  experience   and 
will  bring  satiety.    Life  is  sweet,  even  this 
earth -life,  could  we  have  it  on  our  own 
terms.     But  this  is  impossible;  we  soon 
learn  that  it  is  impossible.    We  must  take 
life,  not  as  we  fancy  it  might  be,  but  as 
it  is.     We  must  take  it  with  conditions 
which  we  cannot  essentially  alter.     One 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sijty-nine 

Years  ? 


160 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


of  those  conditions  is  the  close  limitation 
of  human  faculty  and  action  by  inevitable 
laws.     The  mind  is  subject  to  the  law  of 
the  body,  and  "that  law  hath  dominion 
over  a  man  so  long  as  he  liveth."     By  his 
bodily  organization  man  is  a  part  of  uni- 
versal nature.     He  must  take  his  place 
among  terrestrial  kinds ;  he  can  only  ful- 
fil, and  no  more  than  fulfil,  tlie  circle  pre- ' 
scribed  for  him  by  adamantine  necessity. 
No  man  can  unite  in  his  single  self  the 
excellences  of  all  the  excellent ;  and  when 
we  compare  the  actual  achievements  of 
the  greatest  with  what  we  imagine  of  su- 
perior beings,  we  soon  see  an  end  of  all 
perfection.     Could   you  question  the  he- 
roes of  old  and  of  recent  time,  the  cap- 
tains and  the  statesmen,  tlie  sages  and  the 
poets,  they  would  tell  you  that  the  utter- 
most they  did  was  small  compared  with 
wliat  they  felt  themselves  to  he,  in  the  un- 
developed resources  of  their  nature.    They 
were  great  and  good,  but  not  so  great  or 
good  as  their  conception  and  our  concep- 
tion.    When  we  think  of  this,  how  far  our 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY-NINE   YEARS? 


161 


Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Yean  ? 


best  works  fall  short  of  our  conception :  Chap.  VII. 
and  the  undeveloped  force  that  is  in  us, 
how  limited  our  faculty,  how  little  our  ac- 
tion, —  when  we  think  of  this,  the  idea  of 
a  lengthened  life  loses  much  of  its  charm. 
However  rich  and  full  this  earth-life,  it  is 
not  the  best  that  may  be.  We  can  im- 
agine something  better,  and  we  crave  that 
better,  a  wider  scope,  a  freer  activity,  a 
more  adequate  representation  of  ourselves 
in  our  deeds. 

Another  condition  which  we  have  to 
take  with  our  given  term  of  life,  be  it 
longer  or  shorter,  is  the  mutability  of 
earthly  things,  the  transitoriness  of  earth- 
ly good,  the  disappointment  of  cherished 
hopes,  the  loss  of  our  beloved,  the  sever- 
ing of  the  heartstrings  that  bleed  where 
they  break,  and  never  quite  heal;  the 
chronic  tantalization,  the  slipping  away 
of  life  from  under  us,  the  perpetual  loos- 
ing of  our  hold  on  thinj^s.  Who  has  not 
had  experience  of  these  sorrows  ?  and  who 
would  wish  such  experience  unduly  pro- 
longed ?    But  such  is  life,  and  cannot  well 


•» 


162 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years? 


be  other  in  this  world  of  our  converse. 
These  experiences  teach  us,  if  we  are  will- 
ing to  be  taught,  that  it  is  not  well  to 
live  always  in  this  world,  nor  to  live  much 
longer  than  the  foui-score  years  of  Biblical 
allowance. 

This  conviction  is  finely  expressed  in 
the  well-known  fable  of  the  "  Wandering 
Jew,"  the  man  who  with  curses  bade  Jesus 
march  on  and  not  stop,  when,  weary  and 
faint,  on  his  way  to  the  cross,  he  had  sunk 
to  the  ground,  and  on  whom,  in  return  for 
this  cruelty,  Jesus,  it  is  said,  pronounced 
the  sentence  "  Thou  shalt  wander  till  I  re- 
turn." And  ever  since  then,  according  to 
the  fable,  Ahasuerus  walks  the  earth  and 
can  find  no  grave.  Many  poets  and  writ- 
ers of  fiction  have  handled  this  theme; 
and  a  very  tempting  one  it  is.  They  have 
treated  it  very  differently,  with  more  or 
less  skill,  but  all  agree  in  picturing  the 
weariness  and  anguish  of  such  a  life,  —  a 
life  which,  with  no  external  calamity,  is 
made  by  its  mere  duration  an  immortal 
torment. 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND    SIXTY-NINE   YEARS  ? 


163 


If,  then,  we  fairly  envisage  the  idea  of 
a  life  of  nine  hundred  years,  if  we  picture 
to  ourselves  the  intolerable  burden  of  such 
a  life,  we  can  hardly  believe  that  the  men 
of  the  antediluvian  world  were  cursed  with 
that  load.  And  the  more  we  ponder  this 
idea  the  more  clearly  we  shall  see  the  fal- 
sity of  the  old  theological  view  that  repre- 
sents death — the  death  of  the  body — as  a 
curse  which  man  drew  down  upon  him- 
self by  his  disobedience.  Not  a  curse, 
but  a  blessing,  without  which  life  itself 
would  be  a  curse.  Of  all  the  angels  that 
wait  around  the  Throne  and  do  the  bid- 
ding of  eternal  Love,  there  is  none  whose 
ministry  is  more  indispensable  than  that 
of  the  angel  of  death.  Whatever  sorrows 
may  attend  the  timing,  the  method,  and 
incidents  of  that  ministration,  the  end  is 
sure  and  supreme  blessing. 

In  the  order  of  nature  every  day  of 
earthly  existence  is  rounded  with  a  sleep 
by  which  the  soul  dies  into  new  and  re- 
plenished life.  If  that  sleep,  which  is 
temporary  death,  be  long  withheld,  insan- 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


164 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VII. 

Nine  Hunrhed 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


ity  ensues.  The  mind  cannot  bear  the 
strain  of  a  too  protracted  waking.  And 
by  the  same  order  the  great  day  of  mor- 
tality must  have  its  crowning  sleep  of 
proportionate  duration.  If  that  crowning 
sleep  were  too  long  deferred,  the  intermin- 
able day  would  be  a  burden  and  a  curse. 

And  why,  it  may  be  asked,  if  death  is 
a  necessity  for  this  world's  use,  why  not 
also  for  the  use  of  the  next  ?   If  the  earth- 
ly life  must  be  shortened  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  finite  nature,  how,  hereafter, 
shall  finite  nature  bear  the  burden  of  im- 
mortality ?     I  suppose  that  hereafter,  also, 
there  may  be  tlie  need,  from  time  to  time, 
of  "  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting,"  as  the  ages 
accumulate  their  experience  on  the  soul. 
Immortality  may  be  a  series  of  births  in- 
stead of  one  continuous  living.     Succes- 
sive deaths  may  be   the   risers  of  those 
"altar-stairs  that  slope  through  darkness 
up  to  God  " ;  each  stair  a  new  day  of  spir- 
itual life,  a  higher  capacity  of  serviceable 
action,  a  nearer  revelation  of  the  infinite 
Love. 


NINE   HUNDRED   AND    SIXTY-NINE   YEARS  ? 


165 


But  all  this  is  hidden  behind  the  earth, 
among  the  mysteries  of  the  unknown  land 
whose  day  cannot  dawn  till  earth's  de- 
clines. We  only  know  that  the  "  undiscov- 
ered country"  must  be  reached,  if  at  all, 
through  the  night  of  death.  And  will  we 
not  welcome,  when  it  comes,  the  silent 
guide  to  the  "  silent  land "  ? 

"OLand!  OLand! 
For  all  the  broken-hearted 
The  mildest  herald  by  our  fate  allotted 
Beckons,  and  with  inverted  torch  doth  stand 
To  lead  us  with  a  gentle  hand 
Into  the  land  of  the  great  departed, 
Into  the  silent  land  I  " 


Chap.  VIL 

Nine  Hundred 

and  Sixty-nine 

Years  ? 


VIII. 


THE  FAILURE   OF  PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


I 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


169 


M\ 


THE    FAILUEE    OF    PEIMEVAL 
SOCIETY. 

"  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was 
great  in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  — 
Genesis  vi.  5. 

Whether  historic  or  merely  conjectu- 
;ul,  this  statement  agrees  with  the  ration- 
al view  of  primitive  man.  The  depravity- 
ascribed  to  the  early  world  is  nothing 
more  than  might  be  expected  as  the  nat- 
ural issue  and  probable  result  of  the  first 
experiment  of  social  life.  Eeasoning  from 
the  nature  of  man,  we  should  say  that  so- 
ciety in  its  first  state,  committed  to  un- 
disciplined instincts  and  native  passion, 
without  education,-  without  experience, 
without  ideals,  with  no  authority  but 
brute  force,  would  prove  a  failure,  would 
suffer  wreck  for  want  of  moral  resources 

8 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


170 


PlilMEVAL   WOKLD    OF    HEBKEVV    TKADITION. 


THE   FAILURE    OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


171 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


with  which  to  stem  the  corruptions  of  vice 
and  the  anarchy  which  vice  engenders. 
The  ancients  believed  that  man's  first  es- 
tate was  a  golden  age  of  innocence  and 
peace.  Their  poets  have  so  represented 
it,  and  perhaps  the  story  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden  had  its  origin  in  that  propensity 
to  glorify  the  past,  which  shaped  the  Gen- 
tile poets'  dream.  But  the  facts  of  an- 
tiquity, so  far  as  we  know  them,  point  the 
other  way.  The  earliest  indications  of 
man's  existence  on  the  earth  which  sci- 
ence brings  to  light,  contradict  the  notion 
of  primeval  innocence.  The  fossil  remains 
which  recent  investigation  has  discovered 
in  situations  revealing  human  occupancy 
long  antecedent  to  the  oldest  historic  rec- 
ords, consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  imple- 
ments of  war.  Spears  and  arrow-heads  do 
not  betoken  a  golden  age  of  innocence  and 
peace,  but  rather  an  age  of  wrath  and  strife. 
And  what  archaeology  makes  probable,  and 
what  Hebrew  tradition  affirms,  is  what 
our  experience  of  human  nature  would 
teach  us  to  expect,  — instead  of  the  bless- 


ed tranquillity  which  poets  depict,  a  state 
of  prevailing  depravity,  a  state  in  which 
"the  wickedness  of^ian  was  very  great." 

Is,  then,  human  nature  constitutionally 
depraved,  —  depraved  to  that  extent  that 
the  evil  in  man  exceeds  the  good  ?  God 
forbid  !  The  good  exceeds,  but  the  bad  is 
soonest  developed,  and,  without  the  checks 
of  education,  of  laws,  and  religion,  will 
outgrow  the  good  and  assert  a  baleful  su- 
premacy. It  is  not  a  question  of  human 
nature  in  itself  considered,  but  of  human 
nature  in  social  combinations.  Such  com- 
binations, until  the  accumulated  wisdom 
of  many  generations  had  shaped  their  con- 
stitution for  suppression  of  evil  and  pro- 
motion of  good,  would  furnish  abundant 
provocations  to  the  baser  propensities,  cov- 
etousness,  lust,  revenge ;  whilst  the  vir- 
tues would  require  a  long  time  to  develop 
their  activity,  and  by  organized  effort  to 
exercise  a  controlling  power.  There  must 
be  a  preponderance  of  good  in  man,  or 
society  could  not  exist ;  for  evil  tends  to 
dissolution  and  ruin.     But  an  element  of  j 


Chap.  VIII. 

Tlie  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


172 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


evil  there  is,  also,  in  man,  as  in  every  or- 
der and  realm  of  being ;  and  tlie  evil,  under 
certain  conditions,  may  develop  itself  with 
such  rapidity  as  to  overpower  for  a  time 
the  good ;  as  weeds  in  a  garden  will  usurp 
the  ground  and  clioke  the  nobler  plants, 
if  the  garden  be  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 
This  rapid  development  of  evil  would  be 
likely  to  occur  in  a  primitive  state  of  so- 
ciety, where  the  moral  sense  had  not  yet 
embodied  itself  in  laws  and  institutions, 
and  established  means  of  education.     The 
passions  in  sucli  a  community  would  know 
no  restraints  but  sucli  as  were-  purely  ac- 
cidental; violence  and  lust  would  reiirn 
supreme ;  the  contagion  of  evil  example 
would  spread  corruption,  woidd  infect  the 
young,  and  diffuse  an  ever-increasing  de- 
pravity.     Every    man's    hand   would   be 
against  his  neighbor,  until  society  became 
impossible,  through  dissolution  of  all  the 
bonds  which  bind  man  to  man.     Individ- 
ual examples  there  would  be  of  unspotted 
innocence   and   persevering   integrity;   as 
"  Noah  was  found  righteous  in  his  genera- 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


173 


tion."  But  these  exceptional  cases  would 
only  contrast,  not  check,  the  general  cor- 
ruption. The  good  would  finally  be  forced 
to  give  up  the  attempt  to  reform  society, 
would  leave  society  to  perish  in  its  sins, 
and,  separating  themselves  from  the  rest, 
would  propagate  elsewhere  a  new  and  bet- 
ter kind. 

This  theory  of  primitive  man  agrees 
precisely  with  the  Hebrew  record,  but 
neither  theory  nor  record  supposes  an  in- 
nate depravity  of  human  nature.  It  only 
supposes  what  all  experience  teaches,  that 
the  good  in  man  requires  to  be  developed 
by  education,  and  requires  long  time  for 
its  development,  while  the  bad  without 
education,  like  weeds  and  vermin,  hastens 
to  develop  itself.  We  are  not,  perhaps, 
sufficiently  aware  to  how  great  an  extent 
the  moral  life  of  society,  the  good  that 
exists  in  the  average  of  men,  and  whose 
fruits  we  enjoy  in  public  order,  security, 
and  peace;  —  to  how  great  an  extent  all 
this  is  due  to  the  gradual  accumulation 
of  moral  forces,  educational,  literary,  civil, 


Chap.  VIII. 

Tlie  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


174  PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIH. 


The  Failure 

of  I'rimeval 

Society, 


and  religious,  operating  in  a  thousand  ways 
to  restrain  the  evil  in  man  and  to  elevate 
and  purify  our  daily  life.    These  composite 
forces,  these  consenting  influences,  consti- 
tute what  may  be  called  the  moral  capital 
of  society,   incomparably    more    essential 
to   social   well-being   than   all  the   accu- 
mulations of  material  capital  with  wliich 
the  industry  of  successive  generations  has 
enriched  our  estate.      The  value  of  this 
material  capital,  consisting  in  houses  and 
warehouses,  sliips  and  wharves,  in  roads 
and  farms,  and  mines  and  engines,  arts  and 
mechanical  inventions,  we  can  all  under- 
stand.    This  complex  apparatus  of  human 
industry  we  can  all  appreciate.    We  know 
very  well  to  what  a  pitiful  state  we  sliould 
be  reduced  if  all  these  accumulations,  and 
even  the  knowledge  of  these  things,  were 
suddenly  destroyed,   and   man  were   left 
with  nothing  but  his  native  powers  and 
the   untamed   eartli,    to  begin    the  world 
anew.     We  know  what  the  cliange  would 
be  from  tlie  top  of  material  civilization  to 
the  lowest  plane  of  savage  life.     But  sup- 


THE  FAILURE  OF  PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


175 


'M 


The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


pose  these  material  possessions  were  left  to  \  Chap.  VIII. 
us,  and  that  moral  and  religious  ideas,  tra- 
ditions, and  beliefs,  and  the  institutions  that 
represent  them,  —  Church,  Bible,  school, 
the  greater  part  of  the  world's  literature, 
—  all  that  part  of  it  which  conveys  any 
moral  or  religious  impressions, — the  mem- 
ory and  lesson  of  all  good  examples,  —  sup- 
pose all  this  were  stricken  out  and  man 
were  left  with  no  moral  guidance  but  his 
native  instincts  and  perceptions.  What 
would  be  the  effect  on  society  of  such  a 
loss  ?  What  would  society  be  with  no 
knowledge  of  any  but  material  interests, 
with  no  experience  of  any  but  material 
laws,  in  lands  which  are  now  the  most 
civilized  portions  of  the  earth?  ^\Tio 
can  doubt  the  result  ?  Who  can  doubt 
that  in  any  community  so  conditioned 
crime  would  become  rampant,  anarchy 
prevail,  and  social  dissolution  ensue  ? 
With  the  great  and  numberless  tempta- 
tions which  mere  material  progress  brings, 
with  its  ceaseless  provocations  of  lust 
and  wrong,  society  would  be  impossible 


176 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIIL 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


without  the  safeguards,  the  motives,  the 
laws,  the  guidance,  wliicli  existing  civ- 
ilization, with  its  long  accumulations  of 
moral  increase,  in  otlier  words,  with  its 
moral  capital,  supplies.  This  was  pre- 
cisely the  difference  between  that  elder 
world  and  ours.  This  I  suppose  to  have 
been  the  difficulty  and  defect  of  that  pri- 
meval society  which  Hebrew  tradition  de- 
scribes, —  material  progress  divorced  from 
moral,  —  the  pursuit  of  material  satisfac- 
tions outstripping  the  moml  sense  and  be- 
coming in  consequence  more  and  more 
emptied  of  moral  life. 

"  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of 

man  was  very  great  in  the  earth And 

it  repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made 
man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at 
his  heart.  And  the  Lord  said,  I  will  de- 
stroy man,  whom  I  have  created,  from  the 
face  of  the  earth,  both  man  and  beast,  for 
it  repenteth  me  that  I  have  made  them." 
This  was  the  primitive  mode  of  viewing 
and  stating  the  failure  of  the  first  attempt 
at  civil  society.     The  ancient  simplicity 


THE   FAILURE    OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


177 


did  not  shun  to  think  of  God  as  making 
a  misstep  and  confessing  a  failure.     There 
is  something  very  charming  in  that  sim- 
plicity ;  I  pity  the  critic  who  can  find  it 
ridiculous.     So  great  was  the  faith  which 
those  ancient  people  had  in  their  God,  — 
he  seemed  to  them  so  near,  so  human,  — 
they  could  not  help  crediting  him  with 
their  own  sensations.   And  their  confidence 
in  him  and  their  reverence  for  him  was  no- 
wise diminished  by  regarding  him  as  lia- 
ble to  error.     When  he  saw  how  wicked 
man  was,  he  must,  they  thought,  have  been 
disappointed,  not  anticipating  such  a  result, 
and  have  grieved  that  he  made  him.     We 
cannot,  of  course,  with  our  maturer  con- 
ceptions of  Deity,  adopt  that  view  of  the 
fact;  but  the  fact  remains.     That  fact  is 
the   moral  corruption  of  the  early  world 
and  the  failure  of  the  first  societies  of  men 
for  want  of  the  requisite  moral  aids. 

These  failures  are  no  test  of  the  moral 
nature  of  man,  they  only  show  that  the 
moral  life  is  a  gradual  growth,  that  the 
moral  force  which   constitutes   the   stay 

8* 


Chap.  VIIL 


The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


178  PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


THI-:    FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


179 


Chap^VIII.  and    assures    the   stability   of   the    social 


Society. 


I/prt'eZ    ^^^^^'   '^   ^^^^   slo^^  accumulation  of  suc- 
cessive ages  of  moral  and  religious  teach- 
ings and  exami)le,  a  funded  capital  invest- 
ed in  sacred  memories,  in  public  opinion, 
in  social  influences,  customs,  and  institu- 
tions.    I  said  that  the  failures  of  primeval 
society  are  no  test  of  the  moral  nature  of 
man.     But  they  furnished  the  occasion  of 
such  a  test  in  the  wonderful  power  of  self- 
recovery  by  which  society  righted  itself 
from  that  first  fall  and  by  which  it  has 
repaired  so  many  subsequent  failures,  and 
has  risen  new-born  from  so  many  defeats, 
abolished  so  many  evils  and  wrongs,  and 
by  which,  at  this  day,  it  continues  to  ad- 
vance to  new  degrees  and  fairer  demon- 
strations of  moral  life.     Often  in  this  or 
that  country  it  has  seemed  for  a  while  ir- 
recoverably sunk  in  moral  ruin,  on  the  eve 
of  dissolution,  and  still   it  has   emerged 
from  the  transient  eclipse  with  new  vigor 
and  a  better  hope.     States  may  perish  and 
nations  dissolve,  but  society  profits  w^ith 
each    revolution,  gains    new  growths    of 


Pi 


& 


■     i 


moral  good,  and  adds  to  its  moral  capital 
from  age  to  age. 

This  moral  progress  is  due  in  part  to 
the  innate  goodness  of  human  nature,  and 
in  part  to  a  process  of  divine  education. 
Without  a  foundation  in  human  nature 
on  which  o  build,  and  without  a  master- 
builder  to  oversee  and  conduct  the  work, 
no  moral  fabric  such  as  society  was  des- 
tined to  be  and  is  striving  to  become, 
could  ever  be  erected. 

I  affirm  a  radical  and  preponderating 
good  in  human  nature.  There  is  evil  in 
man,  deep-seated,  persistent  evil,  but  the 
good  is  deeper  and  ineradicable.  Man 
is  essentially,  constitutionally  good,  and 
only  exceptionally  and  abnormally  bad. 
In  proof  of  this  I  appeal  to  the  fact  of 
society.  Society  exists,  it  has  existed  with 
unbroken  continuity  for  thousands  of  years. 
And  society  is  founded  in  moral  qual- 
ities ;  it  depends  on  them  for  its  preser- 
vation and  support.  Mutual  attraction, 
friendship,  and  good-will  are  its  origin; 
justice  and  truth  are  its  guaranties.     Take 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


180 


PKIMEVAL   WOKLD   OF   HEBKEW   TKADITION. 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


away  these  qualities  from  the  nature  of 
man,  and  society  would  straightway  and 
inevitably  dissolve.  Imagine  every  kind 
of  feeling,  every  liumane  sentiment,  every 
right  principle,  all  sense  of  justice  and 
honor,  to  be  erased  from  the  heart;  sup- 
pose there  were  no  love  of  man  for  man,  no 
sympathy,  no  instinct  of  kind  affection,  no 
perception  of  truth  or  no  respect  for  it, 
no  more  respect  for  truth  than  falsehood ; 
let  men  be  constitutionally  averse  to  jus- 
tice and  upriglitness,  loving  treachery  and 
wrong  for  their  own  sakes ;  suppose  this, 
and  how  long  would  society  cohere,  how 
long  on  such  terms  would  men  live  and 
work  together  in  communities  and  states  ? 
Wliat  cement  will  bind  when  truth  and 
love  are  not  in  the  composition  ?  Self- 
interest  ?  Yes  !  if  self-interest  knew  what 
self-interest  requires.  But  self-interest  is 
blind,  it  seeks  its  own  with  wild  and  un- 
discerning  greed.  It  seeks  its  own  when 
it  steals  and  kills ;  it  seeks  its  own  in 
vicious  excess,  seeks  it  in  impossible  and 
I  suicidal  ways.     It  is  quite  as  likely  to  go 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


181 


WTong  as  right ;  it  requires  a  wisdom  above 
its  own  to  secure  its  own.  How  can  self- 
love  hold  society  together  when  the  ten- 
dency of  self-love  is  to  sunder  and  secede  ? 
A  community  founded  in  mere  self-love 
and  the  passions  that  have  self  for  their 
only  object  is  an  impossibility.  In  such 
a  community  each  member  would  seek 
his  own  at  the  expense  of  his  neighbor; 
every  man's  hand  would  be  against  his 
brother,  his  brother's  against  him.  The 
consequence  would  be  disintegration,  death. 
I  say,  then,  that  the  fact  of  society  im- 
plies a  radical  and  preponderant  good  in 
man,  by  virtue  of  which  it  subsists  and 
has  subsisted  for  unknown  time. 

My  second  proof  of  the  radical  good  in 
human  nature  is  drawn  from  lano-uao^e. 
Language  is  a  faithful  exponent  and  trust- 
worthy record  of  the  nature  of  man.  The 
thoughts  and  feelings  and  beliefs  of  man 
are  embodied  in  it,  as  past  creations  are 
embodied  in  the  earth's  crust.  And  lan- 
guage is  essentially  moral ;  it  bears  witness 
of  a  moral  nature  in  those  who  made  and 


Chap.  VIII. 

T%e  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


182 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

oj  Prrmeval 

Society. 


S    i 
i  i 

>    4 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMETAL   SOCIETY. 


183 


in  those  who  use  it.  In  every  language 
there  are  terms  expressive  of  man's  delight 
in  moral  good.  There  are  languages  which 
have  no  word  for  God,  but  none  which 
are  destitute  of  phrases  significant  of  pro- 
bity, justice,  and  mercy.  Analyze  these 
phrases,  trace  their  etymology,  pierce  to 
their  root,  and  you  will  find  in  them  evi- 
dence not  only  of  an  innate  perception  of 
moral  qualities,  but,  what  is  more  impor- 
tant, of  a  just  appreciation  of  tliose  quali- 
ties; you  will  find  in  them  an  acknowl- 
edgment that  the  virtues  so  designated 
are  lovely  and  praiseworthy  qualities ;  you 
will  find  in  them  the  recognition  of  a 
moral  law,  a  confession  that  man  is  bound 
to  obey  that  law,  that  his  dignity  and  liap- 
piness  consist  in  obeying  it.  This  confes- 
sion which  universal  language  breathes  is 
a  trustworthy  witness  of  the  innate  good- 
ness of  the  human  heart. 

What  is  true  of  language  is  true  no  less 
of  the  literature  of  nations.  Here,  too,  I 
find  proof  of  native  ineradicable  good.  I 
appeal  to   that  class    of  ^vritings   whose 


i. 


I 


only  or  cliief  end  is  to  please.     Observe 
the  method  employed  for  this  end  in  works 
where    imaginary   characters    and    imaoi- 
nary  fortunes  are  brought  to  view.     Mark 
by  wliat  kind  of  characters,  and  of  for- 
tunes corresponding  therewith,  the  authors 
of  such  compositions,  addressing  the  aver- 
age mind,  attempt  to  interest  and  gratify 
their  readers.    Observe  that  the  characters 
with  which  it  is  intended  that  we  shall  syni- 
pathize,  and  for  whom  we  desire  a  fortu- 
nate end,  are  invested  with  noble  qualities, 
are  represented  as  right-minded,  honorable, 
and  just.     The  attributes  by  which  they 
are  expected  to  win   our  admiration  are 
moral  traits.     We  say  the  novel,  or  play, 
"ends   well"   when  the  good   characters 
set  forth  in  it  prosper,  or,  if  they  faU  vic- 
tims of  their  own  nobleness,  die  honored 
and  avenged,  and  in  which  the  bad  char- 
acters come  to  grief  and  shame.     Every 
work  of  fiction  is  an  appeal  to  the  moral 
sense ;  the  purport  of  it  must  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  moral  law.     This  is  the 
demand  which  the  public  make  of  it ;  this 


Chap.  VIH. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


184 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIII. 

Tlie  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


is  essential  to  its  success.     Let  the  author 
contravene  this  order,  let  him  contradict 
the  moral  law  in  his  composition,  let  liim 
paint   characters   devoid   of  every  virtue 
and  stained  with  every  vice,  and  attempt 
to  engage  our  sympathy  in  behalf  of  such, 
and  he  will  find  that  he  has  undertaken  a 
bootless  task ;  he  wiU  find  it  impossible  to 
construct  a  story  on  this  principle  which 
shall  give  satisfaction.     Though  he  choose 
his  readers  from  the  vilest  of  mankind, 
though  he  write  for  profligates  and  felons, 
and  call  in  outlaws  and  outcasts  to  be  his 
critics,  he  will  find  none  so  abandoned  as 
to  relish  and  approve  a  work  so  planned. 
And  so  literature  bears  witness  of  the  rad- 
ical and  ineradicable  good  in  human  kind. 
But  the  mere  existence  and  even  pre- 
ponderance of  good  in  man  is  not  of  it- 
self sufficient  to  secure  the  moral  progress 
which  I  claim  for  society,  will  not  suffice  '\ 
to  rear  that  fabric  of  a  perfect  state  winch 
reason,  I  think,  demands  as  the  consum- 
mation of  human  history;   that  City  of 
God   to  which    propliecy  points   and   for 


THE  FAILURE  OF  PRIMEVAL  SOCIETY. 


185 


which  Humanity  hopes  and  waits.  The 
radical  good  in  human  nature  is  one  fac- 
tor in  this  product,  the  other,  I  have  said, 
is  divine  education.  Human  nature  was 
the  same  that  it  now  is  in  the  earliest  an- 
tediluvian time,  but  society  how  different ! 
What  accessions  of  knowledge  and  insight, 
what  stores  of  experience,  what  culture, 
what  improved  legislation,  what  social  re- 
forms, what  provisions  for  the  present  and 
the  future,  what  guaranties,  what  confi- 
dence and  hope  !  The  difference  is  due  to 
the  guiding,  educating  Power  that  works 
unseen  in  human  things,  ever  educing 
good  from  evil,  causing  the  wrath  of  man 
to  praise  it,  the  failures  arid  miscarriages 
of  human  effort  to  justify  it,  and  leading 
the  race  through  ceaseless  conflicts,  through 
manifold  trials  and  defeats,  through  suc- 
cessive revolutions,  migrations,  empires,  re- 
ligions, to  its  present  advanced  and  hope- 
ful state.  The  Spirit  of  God  has  never 
been  wanting  to  human  kind.  Where  its 
action  is  most  conspicuous  we  acknowl- 
edge and  adore  it  as  "revelation,"  as  di- 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


186 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


vine  dispensation.     But  that  Spirit  is  al- 
ways and  everywhere  active,  copresent  to 
every  age  and  phase  of  society.     We  must 
not  belittle  the  great  idea  of  Eevelation 
by  imagining  it  confined  to  certain  marked 
eras  and  manifestations.     The  revelation 
that   came   with    the   word   and   life    of 
Jesus  Christ  was  a  great  and  central  il- 
lumination, but  the  light  that  shone  so 
resplendent  in  him  was  none  other  than 
that  which  the  evangelist  says  "lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world," 
the  uncreated,  inextinguishable  spark  of 
Godhead  by  which  Humanity  subsists  un- 
til now.     Eevelation  is  not  spasmodic  and 
intermittent,  but  continuous  and  progres- 
sive.    There  never  was  a  time  when  God 
was  not  revealing  himself  with  such  illu- 
minations and  visions  of  the  truth  as  each 
age  and  people  were  able  to  comprehend. 
Nor  must  we  conceive  of  revelation  as  the 
action  of  God  upon  the  world  from  with- 
out, as  the  introduction  of  an  alien  power 
that  announces  itself  with   portents,  ap- 
I  pears  for  a  little  while  and  then  vanishes 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


187 


The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society, 


away.  It  is  nothing  foreign,  but  the  Spirit  Chap.  Vlll 
of  God  in  man  which  giveth  him  under- 
standing, and  which  here  and  there  in  cer- 
tain elect  natures  acts  with  exceptional 
power  and  speaks  with  peculiar  author- 
ity. All  revelation  is  in  man  and  through 
man,  and  that  revelation  is  ever  proceed- 
ing. From  the  first  beginnings  of  human 
society  God  has  been  ever  in  communion 
with  the  race.  Even  in  that  wild  and 
profligate  age  which  the  record  describes, 
when  the  wickedness  of  man  was  so  great 
in  the  earth,  there  was  no  interruption ; 
the  divine  communication  was  still  main- 
tained. Tradition  conceived  it  as  an  oral 
colloquy  with  Noah.  The  conception  is 
puerile,  but  its  import  is  truth.  In  sub- 
stance tradition  was  right ;  there  was  that 
communication  of  God  with  the  better 
mind  of  the  time.  There  always  has  been. 
God  was  always  in  the  world  suggesting, 
impelling,  restraining,  guiding :  applying 
evil  to  the  elucidation  and  promotion  of 
good,   and    leading   man   up  to  Himself 


through  all  the  aberrations  of  his  thoudit 


188  PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  VIII 


THE   FAILURE   OF   PRIMEVAL   SOCIETY. 


189 


The  Failure 

of  Primeval 

Society. 


and  desire,  tlirougli  all  tlie  wanderings  of 
his  will,  througli  all  the  successes  of  his 
endeavor,  and  through  all  its  defeats.  And 
this  I  conceive  to  be  the  sum  and  end  of 
that  divine  education  by  which  society  is 
to  reach  and  realize  at  last  its  moral  con- 
summation ;  God  leading  man  up  to  him- 
self, filling  the  soul  and  the  world  with 
his  idea,  making  his  will  to  appear  the  only 
politic  way  and  goal,  and  Himself  the  su- 
preme good. 

When,  in  the  light  of  this  doctrine  of 
divine  education  and  social  progress,  I  re- 
vert to  the  record  and  read  how  wicked 
man  could  be  and  was  in  the  olden  time, 
how  ''  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of 
his  heart  was  only  evil  continually,"  I  am 
not  disturbed  nor  alarmed  by  the  contem- 
plation of  such  a  state,  for  though  I  must 
regard  it  as  a  manifestation  of  the  same 
human  nature  which  still  subsists,  and  of 
which  we  all  partake,  I  see  it  to  be  one 
whose  conditions  are  past  and  can  never 
return;  I  can  look  upon  it  as  I  do  on 
those  saurian   monsters,  the  lizard-fishes. 


and  pterodactyls  of  the  ante-human  world ; 
as  outgrown  horrors,  the  crude  abortions 
of  immature  nature  in  its  first  essays. 

Enlightened    with    this    doctrine    and 
armed  with  this  faith,  I  can  never  fear 
for  humanity,  nor  doubt  of  its  final  desti- 
nation.    I  may  fear  for  my  country  when 
evil  rulers  are  in  power  and  evil  counsels 
at  the  helm.    I  may  fear  the  troubles  of  the 
passing  time,  but  I  cannot  fear  for  human- 
ity.    For  I  know  that  its  course  is  onward 
and  irrepressibly,  irreversibly  onward.     I 
know  that  unerring  Wisdom  will  make  the 
faults  of  each  age,  the  calamities  of  na- 
tions, and  the  failure  of  states  the  minis- 
ters and  means  of  a  better  growth,  and 
will  lead  its  own  with  strong  attraction 
througli  the  woes  of  the  present,  through 
the  ruptures  and  wrongs  of  the  hour,  and 
over  the  wrecks  of  time,  into  clearer  day 
and  serener  life,  and  that  out  of  the  expe- 
rience of  so  many  ages,  and  the  contribu- 
tions of  so  many  nations,  will   come  at 
length  the  perfect  Order,  the  reign  of  Eea- 
son,  the  City  of  God. 


Chap.  VIII. 

The  Failure 

of  Pri?neval 

Society. 


n 


THE   DELUGE. 


THE    DELUGE. 

"  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Noah,  Come  thou  and  all 
thy  house  into  the  ark :  for  thee  have  I  seen  righteous 

before   me  in  this  generation For  yet  seven 

days,  and  I  will  cause  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  forty 
days  and  forty  nights ;  and  every  living  substance 
that  I  have  made  will  I  destroy  from  off  the  face  of 
the  earth.  And  Noah  did  according  to  all  that  the 
Lord  commanded  him And  every  living  sub- 
stance was  destroyed  which  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
ground,  both  man  and  cattle,  and  the  creeping  things, 
and  the  fowl  of  the  heaven;  and  they  were  destroyed 
from  the  earth  :  and  Noah  only  remained  alive,  and 
they  that  were  with  him  in  the  ark."  —  Genesis  vii. 

Among  the  traditions  which  date  from 
a  period  beyond  the  reach  of  documental 
history  there  is  none  so  widely  diffused, 
so  generally  accepted,  and  none  of  such 
grave  significance  as  that  of  "  the  Flood  "  ; 
a  deluge  which  destroyed  the  human  race 
with  the  exception  of  a  chosen  few,  who, 
being  forewarned  and  forearmed,  survived 

9 


193 

Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge, 


194 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   DELUGE. 


195 


Chap.  IX. 
The  Deluge. 


the  catastrophe  and  became  the  progeni- 
tors of  a  new  and  worthier  kind. 

Criticism  has  analyzed  the  Biblical  ac- 
count of  Noah  and  his  ark,  and  flippant 
wits  have  amused  themselves  with  point- 
ing out  the  inconsistencies  and  impossi- 
bilities sufficiently  obvious  in  this  simple 
tale.  That  is  easily  done.  It  needs  but 
little  ingenuity  to  show  that  a  box  of  three 
hundred  cubits  length  by  fifty  in  breadth 
and  thirty  in  height  could  not  contain 
seven  pairs  of  all  the  clean  and  two  of  all 
the  unclean  animals  then  in  existence, 
with  fodder  for  their  maintenance  during 
a  hundred  and  fifty  days.  We  understand 
all  that  without  demonstration.  What 
more  concerns  us,  and  is  not  quite  so  ob- 
vious, is  the  answer  to  the  question,  what 
nucleus  of  historic  truth  this  rough  shell 
may  enclose.  Wliat  is  the  real  fact  em- 
bodied in  this  tradition  ?  To  dismiss  the 
whole  story  as  a  myth,  having  no  appre- 
ciable foundation  in  fact,  is  a  more  un- 
critical proceeding  and  a  greater  offence 
against   reason   and  common   sense   than 


to  take  the  narrative  without  further  ques- 
tion, as  the  piety  of  former  generations  re- 
ceived it,  and  was  edified  by  it. 

A  tradition  of  such  duration  and  extent 
must  be  presumed  to  have  some  founda- 
tion in  fact.  A  frank  comparison  of  the 
Hebrew  record  with  the  annals  of  other 
races,  in  other  and  very  distant  parts  of 
the  world,  confirms  the  truth  of  the  Bibli- 
cal account,  but  reveals  at  the  same  time 
tlie  limitations  with  which  the  narrative 
is  to  be  received.  All  the  branches  of  the 
Aryan  and  Semitic  races,  including,  beside 
Jewish  and  Christian  nations,  the  Chal- 
daic,  Phoenician,  Persian,  Hindu,  together 
with  tlie  Latin  and  Greek,  discover  traces, 
more  or  less  distinct,  of  this  tradition.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  monuments  of  the  two 
most  ancient  civilizations  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge  —  the  Egyptian  and 
the  Chinese  —  contain  no  account  of,  or 
allusion  to,  Noah's  deluge.  From  which 
it  appears,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  flood 
was  not  universal,  and  secondly,  that  it 
did  not  take  place  until  after  the  races 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


4l-'io»Wi"'-«fsu*A«'iiMit"i*n«»*i>S,'?[*ji>^ ' 


196  PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITIOJ^. 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


(the  Turanian  and  Chamitic)  which  peo- 
pled the  eastern  and  southwestern  extrem- 
ities of  the  ancient  world  had  migrated 

if  such  was  their  origin  — from  Central 
Asia,  the  seat  of  the  catastrophe;  and 
that  thirdly,  it  was  prior  to  the  Aryan 
migration  from  that  birthplace  of  na- 
tions. 

It  is  curious  to  find  traditions  of  a  flood 
among  the  native  American  tribes.  Wheth- 
er these  refer  to  the  same  event  with  the 
Asiatic,  or  whether  they  commemorate  an- 
other, independent  catastrophe  of  the  West- 
ern continent,  it  is  impossible  to  say.     It 
is  further  remarkable  tliat  all  the  traditions 
which  record  this  event  —  American,  Oce- 
anic, Asiatic  —  connect  with   the  deluge 
which  destroyed  the  human  race  the  salva- 
tion of  certain  elect  individuals  by  means 
of  a  ship  or  chest ;  and  most  of  them  affirm 
a  miraculous  premonition  of  the  coming 
disaster,  by  which  these  individuals  were 
led  to  make  the  necessary  provision  for 
their  escape. 

The  Chaldean  historian,  Berosus,  relates 


TflE   DELUGE. 


197 


that  Kronos,  or  Seth,  the  old  Babyloni- 
an divinity,  revealed  to  Xisuthrus,  in  a 
dream,  that  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
eighth  month  the  flood  would  commence 
in  which  all  mankind  would  perish,  that 
he  must  bury  all  the  books  in  the  city  of 
Helios  and  build  a  ship  five  stadia  long, 
two  stadia  broad  (3,125  feet  by  1,250  feet), 
for  himself,  his  children,  and  relatives,  pro- 
vide stores  of  food  and  drink,  and  take 
with  him  all  sorts  of  animals.     Xisuthrus 
did  so.     The  flood  came.     When  it  ceased 
he  sent  out  birds,  which  found  neither  food 
nor  resting-place  and  came  back  to  the 
ship.     He  repeated  this  twice;  the  third 
time  the  birds  did  not  return,  and  Xisu- 
thrus  knew  that  the   land  had  emerffed 
and  found  that  the  ship  was  landed  on  a 
mountain. 

The  Hindu  legend  declares  that  Manu, 
the  Indian  Noah,  was  warned  by  a  fish  of 
the  impending  deluge,  and  admonished  to 
construct  a  ship,  which,  when  prepared, 
the  fish  itself,  one  of  the  incarnations  of 
the  god  Vishnu,  guided  to  a  place  of  safe- 


Chap.  IX. 
ITie  Deluge. 


mmmmmm 


J 


198 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


ty.     According  to  a  North  American  tra- 
dition, reported  by  Schoolcraft,  the  accu- 
rate  observer   of  the   aborigines   of   this 
continent,  it  was  a  dog  who  gave  his  mas- 
ter the  friendly  warning  and  the  necessary 
instructions  in  view  of  the  coming  catas- 
trophe.    The  late  Baron  Humboldt  relates 
that  several  of  the  Mexican  nations  had 
paintings    representing   the   favored   pair 
(Coxcox  and  his  wife  Xochiquetzatl)  who 
escaped  the  deluge  floating  in  a  bark,  the 
only  living  forms  in  a  universe  of  waters. 
The  Mexican  tradition,  moreover,  has  this 
singular  appendix.     The  men  born  after 
the  deluge  are  dumb,  and  a  dove  from  the 
top  of  a  tree  is  represented  distributing 
tongues. 

On  the  whole,  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able question  as  to  the  historic  truth  *of 
the  flood  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Gene- 
sis. It  was  not  universal,  —  the  phrase 
"  the  whole  earth  "  is  continually  used  in 
the  Bible  in  a  more  or  less  limited  sense, 
—  but  sufficiently  destructive  within  its 
bounds  to  ^x  an  indelible  impression  in 


THE  DELUGE. 


199 


the  human  mind,  and  to  send  down  its 
record  to  the  latest  time,  though  commit- 
ted for  thousands  of  years  to  oral  tradi- 
tion alone.  It  was  subsequent  to  the  last 
of  the  great  revolutions  of  the  globe,  and 
falls  within  the  present  geological  epoch. 
The  earth  is  known  to  have  passed 
through  many  revolutions,  or,  if  that 
phrase  be  thought  objectionable,  through 
many  changes  before  arriving  at  its  pres- 
ent state.  It  shows  the  action  on  its  sur- 
face of  fire,  water,  ice ;  above  aU,  if  that 
may  be  termed  an  agent  which  is  only 
a  condition  of  action,  of  immeasurable 
time.  Before  the  rise  of  geological  science 
the  indications  of  former  submersion  in 
various  parts  of  the  earth,  such  as  the 
presence  of  marine  shells  in  regions  far 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  were  hailed 
by  theologians  and  defenders  of  the  Bible 
as  proofs  of  the  deluge  recorded  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis.  The  progress  of  that 
science  has  put  a  very  different  interpreta- 
tion on  those  facts,  referring  them  to  ages 
prior,  by  millions  of  years,  to  the  date  of 


Chap.  IX. 

T^  Deluge. 


.XI,  ri„  «  Vn---%.SM»«  , 


-r.'^..a3is:f.ja%,ais«i»ai  >rr-r 


200 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 

T/u  Deluge. 


Noah's  flood ;  but  they  so  far  confirm  the 
truth  of  the  Biblical  narrative  that  they 
prove  the  general  fact  of  past  disturbance 
and  the  changeful  condition  of  the  globe. 

The  fact  of  a  deluge  submerging  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  Eastern  Continent, 
and  the  preservation  of  a  smaU  number  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  in  which 
it  prevailed,  being  granted,  the  rest  of  the 
narrative  must  be  regarded  as  traditional 
accretion  representing  tlie  speculations  and 
imaginings  of  after  ages  which  gathered 
around  this  historical  nucleus.     The  point 
of  chief  interest  for  us  in  the  stoiy  of 
the  flood  is  its  moral  aspect  considered 
in  relation  to  human  society  and  the  mor- 
al government  of  God, 

The  Hebrew  account  represents  the  del- 
uge as  the  penalty  of  sin,  as  a  consequence 
of  human  depravity,  ~  the  method  employed 
by  Divine  Providence  to  sweep  away  and 
blot  out  of  existence  a  state  of  society  so 
corrupt  as  to  admit  of  no  reform.  "  God 
I  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of 


>; 


ft 


\i 


THE  DELUGE. 


the  thoughts  of  liis  heart  was  only  evil  con- 
tinually.  And  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he 
had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved 
him  at  his  heart.     And  the  Lord  said,  I 
will  destroy  man,  whom  I  have  created, 
from  the  face  of  the  earth ;  both  man  and 
beast,  and  the  creeping  thing  and  the  fowls 
of  the  air ;  for  it  repenteth  me  that  I  have 
made  them."     This  is  the  reflection  of  an 
ancient  writer,  representing,  no  doubt,  the 
mind  of  his  time,  on  the  great  catastrophe 
which  interrupted  the  progress  of  society 
in  the  old  Asiatic  world  and  made  a  chasm 
in  history  imperfectly  bridged  by  tradi- 
tion.    It  is  not  a  view  which  enlightened 
Christian  thought  can  adopt  in  the  sense 
in  which  it  is  here  propounded.     It  con- 
tradicts our  conception  both  of  the  natural 
and  the  moral  world,  and  the  method  of 
divine  government.     Of  the  natural  world, 
because  the  material  order,  as  we  conceive, 
has  its  own  distinct  laws,  and  obeys  a  se- 
quence of  cause  and  effect  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  human  society.     Once  estab- 
lished, that   order  would   proceed  if  the 

9* 


201 


Chap.  IX. 

2'he  Deluge. 


•  -»^mm^i^mmmm 


^!Bg?'J^W?**3J''«*ffif^"'^j«?ffl(W%.i»««-*  « 


■  14«t     — /<V»)rtf.    .>«,.«^.-  ^t-^.  3-!;S3..KiE*rf»^  „, 


l|JI^'«Mt?^»-1W|^(>*^]0g»^l||tSS^i,,^^  ,^ 


p.'  t  r    -,^J^1iE«ovlHW.li],|^  Tf,    ^  ,if^,ijj.  aj„  |(^      u, 


ii«t    "--^"ft"  •>".•»-.«.♦-*--  -!;S3..KiE*rf*^  „, 


202  PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


earth  were  without  a  human  occupant, 
and  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  modified  by 
human  action.  Natural  events,  we  con- 
ceive, must  be  referred  to  natural  causes ; 
and  those  causes  are  the  necessary  opera- 
tion of  laws  coeval  witli  creation. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  moral  world  has 
also  its  own  laws  independent  of  the  phys- 
ical. Moral  transgressions  have  their  mor- 
al penalties,  and  although  within  the  limits 
of  the  human  organism,  certain  vices  may 
bear  fruit  in  physical  effects,  they  cannot 
be  conceived  as  reaching  beyond  those 
limits  into  the  cosmic  mechanism,  and  so 
affecting  the  natural  order  of  events. 

And  then  it  contradicts  our  conceptions 
of  the  being  and  government  of  God  to 
imagine  him  dealing  with  moral  subjects 
in  the  way  supposed,  calling  in  a  natural 
catastrophe  to  be  the  executioner  of  mor- 
al laws ;  to  think  of  him  as  watching  the 
course  of  human  conduct,  and  when  that 
reaches  a  certain  degree  of  corruption,  in- 
stead of  reviving  it  by  his  Spirit,  or  suf- 
fering it  to  work  out  its  natural  result. 


THE   DELUGE. 


bringing  down  the  elements  upon  it  and 
overwhelming  it  with  natural  ruin. 

But  this  is  the  aspect  which  the  case 
would  present  to   a   mind  in  that  stage 
of  intellectual  and  spiritual  development 
which  this  record  addresses,  from  which 
it  proceeds.     Combining  the  two  facts  of 
great  depravity   in   human  kind  and  an 
overwhelming  catastrophe  in  nature,  the 
primitive   mind  would   suppose  a  conse- 
quential relation  between  these  facts,  the 
wrath  of  God   supplying  the  connecting 
link.     It  is  the  exercise  on  a  larger  scale 
—  the  application  to  a  world  instead  of  an 
individual  —  of  that  propensity  to  see  a 
judgment  of  God  in  every  calamity  that 
befalls;   which  hastens  to  infer  a  man's 
guilt  from  his  ill  fortune,  as  the  people  of 
Melita  judged  Paul  to  be  a  murderer  when 
they  saw  the  viper  fasten  on  his  hand. 
When  the  excavations  in  the  buried  city 
of  Pompeii  brought  to  light  the  traces  of 
a  moral  corruption  too  common  in  ancient 
society,  modern  censors  pronounced  the  vol- 
canic disturbance  which  destroyed  that  city 


203 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge' 


'^•■'•ii&iitxitiist^BmiimtmdStmMiaimgmm 


Mai 


. ,  .u,.:«»aas«ss3saa«»xa^s»«aat'<?  r  s.i  ji:. 


"■^BritirBst^iit     "^i^^tg^fif 


204 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   DELUGE. 


205 


Chap.  IX. 
The  Deluge. 


to  be  a  special  judgment  of  God  on  the 
sinful  inhabitants,  —  a  conclusion  imply- 
ing that   if  the   morals  of  Pompeii  had 
been   pure,  the  fires  of  Vesuvius   would 
have  slumbered  or  found  a  different  vent. 
Jesus  rebukes  this  way  of  interpreting 
calamities.      He   indicates    the   self-igno- 
rance and  self-righteousness  that  lurk  in 
all  such  judgments.     "  There  were  present 
some  that  told  him  of  the  Galileans,  whose 
blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sac- 
rifices.    And  Jesus  answering  said  unto 
tliem.    Suppose    ye  that    these   Galileans 
were  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans,  be- 
cause they  suffered  such  things  ?     I  tell 
you,  Nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall 
all   likewise   perish.     Or   those   eighteen, 
upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  and 
slew  them,  think  ye  that  they  were  sinners 
above  all  men  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem? 
I  tell  you,  Nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish."     Think  not  that 
wicked  men  only  are  overtaken  with  dis- 
aster, or   that   all  whom   disaster  befalls 
are  sinners,  as  if  disaster  were  the  proper    ' 


and  only  penalty  of  sin ;  but  look  into 
your  own  hearts ;  you  will  find  there,  it 
is  likely,  sins  of  your  own  to  be  repented 
of,  —  sin  that  without  repentance  will 
bring  death. 

Public  calamities  and  personal  guilt  bear 
no  such  relation  to  each  other  as  the  inter- 
pretation in  question  supposes.  If  they 
happen  to  coincide,  the  coincidence,  how- 
ever opportune,  according  to  our  human 
view  of  fitness  and  justice,  cannot  be  af- 
firmed to  be  an  ordained  part  of  the  penal 
legislation  of  God.  Calamities  befall  the 
evil  and  the  good ;  they  are  quite  as  likely 
to  befall  the  latter  as  the  former,  as  nature 
smiles  on  both  alike.  When,  in  1755,  the 
city  of  Lisbon  was  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
quake which  brought  instantaneous  death 
to  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  citizens,  there 
was  much  speculation  among  philosophers 
and  divines  concerning  the  providence  of 
God  which  permitted  so  dire  a  catastro- 
phe, but  no  pretence  of  extraordinary  guilt 
on  the  part  of  the  victims,  of  whom  the 
greater    part    were    assembled    in    their 


Chap.  IX. 


The  Deluge. 


►»«i*«#*fa*M«»«la,XM«»!,i3SS«iJl#t  tSCSCaSKSt.  Si»K»  SSBBMSsir  ^ss,.> 


'i 


^iASsr:-. 


ri 


206 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   DELUGE. 


207 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


churches  and  engaged,  at  the  time,  in  the 
public  offices  of  religion. 

A  few  years  ago  we  were  startled  with 
tidings  of  tlie  burning  of  a  church  in  a 
distant   city   of  this    continent,    whereby 
two  thousand  and  upward,  mostly  women 
and  children,  were  said  to  have  perished 
in  circumstances  the  most  appalling  that 
the  human  imagination  can  conceive.   Does 
any  one  suppose  that  these  two  thousand 
were  sinners  above  all  the  people  of  San- 
tiago because  they  encountered  this  horrid 
fate  ?     On   the   contrary,   there   is   every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  awful  holocaust 
numbered  many  of  the  purest  and  most 
devoted  citizens  among  its  victims.     The 
laws  of  nature  will  take  their  course,  how- 
ever numerous  and  however  precious  the 
lives  that  stand  in  the  way  of  their  execu- 
tion.    If  a  jet  of  burning  gas  comes  in 
contact  with  inflammable  draperies,  those 
draperies  will  take  fire,  tliat  fire  will  be 
communicated  to  whatever  combustible  it 
can  lay  hold  of,  and  the  burnimr  desola- 
tion  will  proceed,  whether  empty  walls  or  a 


temple  containing  the  flower  and  elect  of 
a  city  be  the  scene  and  subject  of  the  con- 
flagration. God  in  nature,  acting  in  and 
through  natural  laws,  is  no  respecter  of 
persons,  and  whether  or  not,  as  the  poet 
says,  "  He  sees  with  equal  eye,  as  lord  of 
all,"  it  is  certain  that  he  sees,  without  in- 
terfering to  prevent, 

"  A  hero  perish  or  a  sparrow  fall, 
Atoms  or  systems  into  ruin  hurled, 
And  now  a  bubble  burst  and  now  a  world." 

Thus  we  obtain,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the 
true  point  of  view  for  this  arch-catastro- 
phe of  human  tradition,  —  "  the  flood."  If 
in  its  effects  it  proved  a  penal  operation, 
overwhelming  and  destroying  a  flagitious 
race,  whose  every  thought  was  evil,  we 
cannot  apply  this  view  of  its  effect  as  the 
true  and  sufficient  interpretation  of  its  ori- 
gin. Its  origin  was  a  law  of  nature,  or 
rather  a  conjuncture  and  co-operation  of 
many  laws  all  tending  to  one  issue,  —  that 
issue  a  crisis  in  the  natural  history  of  the 
reixion  in  which  it  occurred. 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Delttge. 


ii 


■    *2 


'  '«V9^^m!i0»¥'m*vmK0tr 


^v5,iA^p A^S%.4.'^**    ^  ,  J* 


.  ^«*.  ♦^^-.^afc,^  **.^y,.>l«»fc^,..;.  ^»^bi.««<.>»»<A,.,»^.  ■^.t*»..,,»*i«AJA>Js.,fe«^  , 


r*V--tWS*-  J^B* 


.  ^«*.  *--«-»**«« ***-,.^««fc^,,,;.^^i,,a^.,^^,..,,^,.^.^,,^^ 


11 


208 


PRIMEVAL   WOKLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


If,  now,  it  be  claimed  that  the  opera- 
tion of  these  laws  and  the  crisis  in  which 
their  action  resulted,  were  so  timed  by 
that  Power  of  which  the  so-called  laws  oi 
nature  are  but  the  method  and  the  mani- 
festation, as  to  coincide  with  a  great  so- 
cial  crisis,   the    consummation    of   those 
vicious  tendencies  by  which  the  constitu- 
tion of  society  had  been  disintegrated  and 
rendered  incapable  of  further  development 
or  even  continuance ;  —  if,  in  other  words, 
it  be  claimed  to  be  a  part  of  the  divine 
order  that  a  cosmic  revolution  should  co- 
incide with  the  dissolution  of  society  by 
the  action  of  internal  moral  causes,  I  see 
no   philosophic   objection    to   that   view, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  accept  it  as,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  rational  view  of  the  mat- 
ter.    But  observe,  that  according  to  this 
view  the  action  of  the  deluge  is  not  re- 
tributory  but  remedial ;  its  purpose  is  not 
vindictive   but   beneficent;   it   mercifully 
hastens  the  extinction  of  that  whose  ex- 
istence had  become  to  itself  an  unmiti- 
gated curse. 


THE   DELUGE. 


209 


(i 


i;4 


And,  perhaps,  if  we  scrutinize  more 
closely  the  language  of  the  record,  we  shall 
find  precisely  this  meaning  in  it :  "  And  it 
repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man 
on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his 

heart And   God   said   unto   Noah, 

The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  before  me ;  for 
the  earth  is  filled  with  violence  throujih 
them :  and,  behold,  I  will  destroy  them 
wdth  the  earth."  God  is  represented  as 
acting,  not  in  the  spirit  of  vengeance,  but 
of  penitence  and  grief,  according  to  the 
childish  conception  of  the  time. 

The  terms  "repent"  and  "grieve"  can 
have  only  a  figurative  signification  for  us 
as  applied  to  God,  but  the  language  sug- 
gests, on  nearer  examination,  a  deeper  im- 
port than  perhaps  our  first  interpretation 
had  found  in  it.  God  repents  tliat  he  has 
made  man.  The  idea  is,  that  human  na- 
ture in  that  stage  and  phase  of  it  was  an 
unsuccessful  experiment.  Now,  if  we  study 
the  course  of  creative  action  in  the  natural 
world,  we  find  a  mode  of  procedure  which, 
considered  only  in  its  objects  and  results, 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


210 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 
The  Deluge. 


may,  without  any  impeachment  of  Divine 
Wisdom,  be  termed  experimenting.  We 
see  successive  attempts  at  organization 
gradually  advancing  in  their  several  kinds 
until  they  reach  their  full  development 
and  final  perfection.  Take  a  single  organ, 
the  human  hand.  We  may  trace  through 
successive  stages  of  animal  life  the  several 
steps  by  which  this  organ  reached  its.  pres- 
ent state.  It  first  appears  as  the  fin  of 
the  fish,  a  membrane  projecting  from  the 
shoulder  of  the  animal,  designed  to  assist 
its  motion.  The  organ  is  next  seen  in  a 
more  advanced  state  in  the  flipper  of  the 
marine  quadruped.  Here  it  begins  to  di- 
vide itself  into  five  distinct  articulations 
or  fingers.  A  fuller  prophecy  of  nature's 
design  in  this  member  may  be  traced  in 
the  claw  of  the  various  land  tribes,  until 
at  last  the  design  is  accomplished  and  the 
prophecy  fulfilled  in  the  human  hand.  We 
cannot  call  the  initial  forms  through  wliich 
this  organ  passed  before  it  attained  its 
final  perfection  unsuccessful  experiments, 
seeing  they  answer  their  purpose  in  the 


THE   DELUGE. 


211 


11 


1 


•;; 


organisms  to  which  they  belong,  but  we 
may  properly  enough  term  them  experi- 
ments, i.  e.  progressive  efforts  which  find 
their  consummation  in  man. 

Again,  the  earth  has  passed  through 
successive  preparatory  states  before  be- 
coming the  abode  of  intellectual  and  mor- 
al life.  In  the  ages  antecedent  to  the 
present  geological  epoch,  we  find  it  peo- 
pled with  those  saurian  and  other  mon- 
sters which  may  be  regarded  as  rude  ex- 
periments in  animal  life,  —  huge  unwieldy 
organizations  whose  nature  and  propor- 
tions, however  well  suited  to  the  state  of 
the  globe  in  which  they  are  found,  are 
wholly  incongruous  with  the  earth  of  our 
day,  and  were  not  deemed  worthy  to  be 
perpetuated  beyond  the  revolutions  that 
convulsed  and  concluded  their  time.  If 
now  we  should  say,  in  the  style  of  those 
records,  that  God  repented  of  those  mon- 
sters —  those  megatheria  and  dinotheria 
and  mastodons  which  he  made  —  and  re- 
solved to  destroy  them  from  the  face  of 
the  earth ;  that  way  of  putting  it  would  be 


Chap.  IX. 
2%<  Deluge. 


212 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


THE   DELUGE. 


213 


Chap.  IX. 

Tkf.  Deluge. 


only  a  more  simple  and  childlike  state- 
ment of  the  fact  that  such  organizations 
were  not  consistent  with  the  plan  of  crea- 
tion and  were  out  of  place  in  the  new- 
made  earth, — a  statement  identical  in  form 
with  that  of  the  text  concerning  primeval 
man. 

The  human  world  of  that  age  and  region 
may  be  regarded  as  an  early  experiment 
in  human  nature,  —  let  us  say  an  unsuc- 
cessful social  experiment.  Unsuccessful, 
not  in  any  sense  which  impugns  the  di- 
vine wisdom  and  goodness,  unsuccessful, 
not  in  relation  to  the  plan  of  Providence 
and  the  whole  of  human  history,  but  im- 
successful  considered  in  itself,  or  viewed 
in  relation  to  its  own  date.  It  pleased  the 
Author  of  human  nature  to  leave  it  in  a 
measure  free,  i.  e.  uncontrolled  by  any 
overbearing  moral  force  from  without. 
But  the  first  expe'riment  in  human  soci- 
ety, based  on  moral  freedom,  must  needs, 
as  I  have  said  before,  be  unsuccessful  for 
want  of  accumulated  moral  capital  suffi- 
cient  to   counterbalance   the   activity  of 


(« 


J 


lawless  passion.  The  moral  capital  on 
and  by  which  society  now  subsists  and 
has  subsisted  for  many  generations,  and  is 
ever  more  able  to  subsist  and  advance,  is 
the  gradual  accumulation  of  all  the  epochs 
of  human  history  up  to  this  date.  What 
Christ  and  Christ-like  men  of  all  ages 
and  religions  have  given  to  the  world  in 
the  way  of  thought  and  example  is  gath- 
ered and  garnered  and  hoarded  and  put  to 
usury  by  the  overruling  divine  economy. 
The  interest  of  it,  forever  added  to  the 
principal,  with  the  compound  growth  of 
the  Spirit,  constitutes  a  fund  which  more 
and  more  redounds  to  the  order,  growth, 
and  salvation  of  man. 

To  this  fund  the  patriarch  Noah  was 
one  of  the  contributors,  —  the  only  one 
whose  benefaction  has  crossed  the  chasm 
in  which  so  many  ages  of  human  history 
are  swallowed  up.  He  towers  aloft  in  the 
mystic  twilight  of  his  time,  above  the 
wreck  of  a  perished  world,  the  planter  of 
a  new  world,  to  form  which  three  conti- 
nents went  forth  from  his  house.  i 


Chap.  IX. 
The  Deltige. 


214 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  IX. 
The  Deluge. 


His  lesson  to  us  from  the  waste  of 
waters  is  the  indestrtictibleness  of  moral 
worth  amid  all  the  revolutions  of  nature 
and  time.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
is  flesh,  and  must  bear  the  doom  of  its 
fleshly  nature.  Many  splendid  achieve- 
ments of  genius,  many  fair  cities,  many 
monuments  and  arts  of  primeval  human- 
ity perished  in  that  WTCck ;  many  mighty 
and  brave  and  beautiful  among  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  men  went  down  with  the 
flood.  A  whole  generation  is  blotted  out. 
Moral  worth  alone  survives,  pushes  its 
way  through  storm  and  flood,  and  plants 
itself  anew  in  the  new-made  earth.  So, 
always,  in  the  downfall  of  nations  and  the 
wreck  of  things,  that  only  survives  which 
is  worthy  to  endure,  which  has  in  it  the 
seed  of  God.  So  in  the  moral  deluge 
which  swept  the  old  Eoman  world,  Chris- 
tianity alone  rode  out  the  storm  and  came 
forth  conquering  and  to  conquer  from  the 
shock  of  time. 

A  divine  communication,  the  'narrative 
says,   foreshadowed  to  the  patriarch   the 


THE  DELUGE. 


215 


►!: 


final  doom  and  the  way  of  escape.  Where 
faith  is,  there  is  always  a  divine  commu- 
nication, an  inspired  forethought,  a  provi- 
dence, a  self-helping  energy,  which  com- 
mands the  crisis  where  self-indulgence  and 
unbelief  succumb.  The  righteous  are  in 
league  with  God.  A  truer  instinct  inspires 
their  course  and  directs  their  steps ;  they 
are  saved  by  wisdom  from  above,  where 
the  wisdom  of  this  world  is  gravelled  and 
swamped  in  its  own  conceit. 

The  history  of  ISToah  is  the  history  of 
faith  in  every  age.  Forever  the  deluge 
impends  that  must  sweep  away  our  an- 
chorage "  on  this  bank  and  shoal  of  time." 
The  fashion  and  goods  of  this  world  are 
forfeit  always  to  universal  mortality.  The 
wise  man  heeds  the  warning  voice  of  the 
Spirit  and  builds  in  silence  the  ark  with- 
in, and  awaits  with  composure  whatever 
may  betide, 

"  Knowing  the  heart  of  man  is  set  to  be 
The  centre  of  this  world,  above  the  which 
These  revolutions  of  disturbances 
Still  roll 


Chap.  IX. 
Hie  Deluge. 


I    , 


216 


rillMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION". 


Chap.  IX. 

The  Deluge. 


Whose  strong  eflfects  are  such 
As  he  must  bear,  being  powerless  to  redress, 
And  that  unless  above  himself  he  can 
Erect  himself,  how  poor  a  thing  is  man." 


H 


X. 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


10 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


219 


THE   GREAT  DISPERSION. 

"  And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  of  one 
speech.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed  from 
the  east,  that  they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar  ; 

and  they  dwelt  there And  they  said,  Go  to,  let  us 

build  us  a  city,  and  a  tower  whose  top  may  reach  unto 
the  heaven,  and  let  us  make  us  a  name  lest  we  be  scat- 
tered abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  And 
the  Lord  came  down  to  see  the  city  and  the  tower, 
which  the  children  of  men  builded.  And  the  Lord  said, 
Behold,  the  people  is  one,  and  they  have  all  one  lan- 
guage ;  and  this  they  begin  to  do  :  and  now  nothing  will 
be  restrained  from  them  which  they  have  imagined  to 
do.  Go  to,  let  us  go  down,  and  there  confound  their 
language,  that  they  may  not  understand  one  another's 
speech.  So  the  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from 
thence  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth.  And  they  left 
off  to  build  the  city.  Therefore  is  the  name  of  it 
called  Babel,  because  the  Lord  did  there  confound  the 
language  of  all  the  earth."  —  Genesis  xi.  I  et  seq. 

This  weighty  but  brief  fragment  is  all 
that  Hebrew  tradition  has  preserved  of  a 
great  revolution,  perhaps  the  greatest  in 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


Ir 


II 


220 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


the  annals  of  time,  —  the  breaking  up  of 
a  vast  empire  embracing  nigh  all  the  .civ- 
ilized world,  and  the  consequent  disper- 
sion of  civilized  man ;  the  growth  of  new 
nations,  polities,  tongues. 

The  story  is  no  myth,  though  the  form 
is  mythical.     It  is  a  veritable  part  of  the 
world's  history,  belonging,  though  it  does, 
to  what  we  call  the  prehistoric  time,  that 
is,   to   ages   antecedent   to  written   docu- 
ments and  chronicled  only  in  dim  tradi- 
tion, and  in  what  remains  of  tlieir  own 
creations.     A  veritable   piece   of  history, 
and  not  only  so,  but  a  very  considerable 
cycle  of  history,  embracing  centuries  in 
its  term  and  scope,  —  the  story  of  an  em- 
pire in  a  few  brief  lines  !     That  wondrous 
Tower  of  Babel  is  a  fact.    A  portion  of  the 
mighty  fabric  is  still  extant,  still  serves  a 
landmark  to  the  nomad  tribes  of  the  great 
Babylonian  plain.     A  mountain  of  ruins, 
the  accumulation  of  forty '  centuries,  still 
attests  the  audacious  proportions  of  one 
of  the  eldest  of  the  works  of  man.     It  is 
said  that  Alexander  the  Great,  impressed 


.  .'1 


t 


r 


( 


It 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


with  the  grandeur  of  what  remained'in  his 
day,  conceived  the  bold  project  of  restor- 
ing the  ancient  structure.  Ten  thousand 
workmen  were  employed  for  months  in 
clearing  away  the  rubbish,  when  tlie  con- 
queror died  and  the  work  was  arrested, 
never  to  be  resumed  again. 

The  narrative  is  mythical  in  form,  like 
that  of  the  deluge  and  other  primeval  his- 
tories. We  have  to  discriminate,  and  find 
no  difficulty  in  discriminating,  the  antique, 
childish  view  of  the  facts  from  the  facts 
themselves.  Such  statements  as  that  of 
the  Lord's  coming  down  to  see  what  the 
people  were  doing  on  the  plain  of  Shinar, 
and  talking  to  himself  about  his  purposes 
and  acts  and  the  reason  and  motive  which 
prompted  them,  are  primitive  conceptions 
of  providential  processes,  nowise  essential 
to  the  story.  And  wlien  it  is  said  that 
the  Lord  confounded  the  speech  of  the 
Babel-builders,  we  readily  understand  that 
what  is  thus  represented  as  a  special  and 
fitful  act  of  Almighty  Power,  originating 
in  a  sudden  mood  of  the  Godhead,  was  in 


221 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion, 


222 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


fact  the  result  of  the  gradual  operation  of 
divine  laws  through  a  series  of  years.  The 
name  of  Nimrod's  city  is  represented  in 
the  story  as  derived  from  that  diversity 
of  speech  which  originated  there,  but  the 
name,  in  fact,  preceded  the  diversity  of 
speech ;  its  real  meaning  is  the  Gate  (or 
Seat)  of  God.  Moreover,  the  phmse  "  the 
whole  earth,"  as  commonly  used  in  the 
Bible,  is  not  to  be  taken  in  an  absolute 
or  scientific  sense.  It  is  not  intended  to 
include  the  entire  globe,  or  even  the  great- 
er part  thereof,  but  is  loosely  employed  to 
designate  the  whole  of  tliat  particular  por- 
tion which  the  writer  or  speaker  has  in 
mind  at  the  time.  In  the  present  case  it 
denotes  the  country  bordering  on  the  Ti- 
gris and  the  Euphrates,  the  seat  of  the 
earliest  civilization  and  the  scene  of  the 
events  of  Biblical  history  antecedent  to 
the  narrative  before  us. 

Eliminating  thus  what  is  mythical  or 
crude  frum  the  substance  of  the  story,  we 
have,  as  historic  facts,  the  original  unity 
of  the  human  family,  the  uniformity  of 


\ 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


the  language  spoken  by  the  early  world, 
the  formation  of  a  powerful  empire  under 
Nimrod  in  Southwestern  Asia,  of  which 

4 

Babel,  or  Babylon,  was  the  capital,  syste- 
matic efforts  at  concentration,  the  attempt 
to  make  the  empire  of  Nimrod  universal, 
and  for  this  end  to  build  a  tower  which 
should  serve  as  a  beacon  to  the  civilized 
world;  then  the  failure  of  this  attempt, 
the  dissolution  of  the  empire,  the  disper- 

^ '(  sion  of  the  people  that  composed  it,  the  di- 

vision  of  one  nation  into  many,  and  finally 

j  the  development  of  one  original  language 

into  many  differing  tongues.  These  are 
the  facts  presented  in  this  narrative ;  there 
is  no  reason  to  question  their  authenticity; 
they  rest  in  part  on  evidence  independent 
of  the  Bible.  All  recent  ethnological  in- 
vestigations tend  to  confirm  them. 

These  facts  are  not  accidental,  they  are 
not  the  outbreak  of  human  caprice  or  ar- 
bitrary acts  of  Divine  Power,  Mit  the  ne- 
cessary operation  and  legitimate  result  of 
the  laws  which  govern  human  things,  parts 
of  that  providential  order  which  shapes 


223 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion, 


224 


PRIMEVAL    WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


and  constitutes  human  history.  They  are 
stages  in  the  ever-proceeding  education  of 
the  human  race. 

I  apply  this  view  to  the  two  most  im- 
portant points  of  the  narrative,  —  the  dis- 
persion of  the  human  family  and  the  con- 
sequent or  accompanying  division  of  the 
one  original  language  into  many  different 
tongues. 

The  human  race  is  originally  one.  That 
portion  of  it,  I  mean,  which  comes  within 
the  scope  and  record  of  history.  Human 
beings,  in  the  merely  zoological  sense,  pos- 
sessing the  human  form,  but  incapable  of 
civilization,  incapable  of  social  progress, 
may  have  sprung  from  different  sources  in 
different  quarters  of  the  globe.  But  man, 
as  the  subject  of  history,  civilized  man, 
there  is  reason  to  believe,  had  one  orioin, 
and  formed  originally  one  family.  This  is 
the  Biblical  idea  of  the  human  race.  Not 
that  the  doctrine  is  expressly  taught,  but 
it  seems  to  be  implied,  and  has  generally 
been  thought  to  be  implied  in  the  narra- 
tives of  the  Book  of  Genesis.     And  philo- 


<j ' 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


Sophie  minds  have  been  led  by  arguments 
independent  of  the  Bible,  by  the  feicts  of 
history  and  science,  to  the  same  conclusion. 

One  of  the  proofs  of  this  original  unity 
is  the  affinity,  more  or  less  obvious,  which 
may  be  traced  between  most  of  the  lan- 
guages spoken  on  this  globe  by  civilized 
peoples,  and  which  seems  to  indicate  a 
common  origin,  an  arch-dialect,  from  which 
they  have  diverged  and  to  which  their  co- 
incidences must  be  referred.  This  affin- 
ity of  languages,  if  and  so  far  as  it  can  be 
established,  goes  to  confirm  the  statement 
of  the  text,  "  the  whole  earth  was  of  one 
language  and  one  speech."  A  common 
language  proves  the  common  origin  of  the 
human  race  or  renders  it  at  least  ex- 
ceedingly probable. 

If,  then,  mankind  were  originally  one, 
speaking  one  language,  combining  in  one 
nation,  exhibiting  one  type,  why  did  not 
this  unity  continue  ?  why  was  this  uni- 
formity broken  ?  Why,  in  the  phraseol- 
ogy of  the  text,  did  God  "  confound "  the 
common  speech  and  divide  and  disperse 

10* 


225 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


226  PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF  HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

Tke  Great 
Dispersion. 


the  united  race?  Why  this  multiplicity 
of  tongues  and  nations,  this  endless  di- 
versity of  feature,  custom,  language,  faith, 
on  the  earth  ? 

The  answer  must  be  sought  in  the  law 
of  growth.     All  growth  implies  division, 
divergence,    opposition,    as    its    necessary 
law.     How  strikingly  this  law  is  exem- 
plified  in  the   growths   of  the  vegetable 
world!    The  plant  no  sooner  pierces  the 
clod  and  emerges  upon  the  surface  of  the 
ground  than  straightway  it  begins  to  di- 
vide and  continues  to  divide  and  to  send 
forth  branches  on  this  side  and  on  that  so 
long  as  it  continues  to  grow  and  to  live. 
The  solar  system  and  all  the  systems  that 
people  space  are  supposed  to  be  successive 
and  progressive  evolutions  of  a  single  sub- 
stance, which,  ever  disparting  and  dispers- 
ing, has  developed  out  of  one  a  universe 
of  worlds.     Humanity,  in  the  counsels  of 
Divine  Wisdom,  was  not  to  remain  sta- 
tionary but  to  grow,  to  unfold  its  attri- 
butes and  powers.     And,  in  order  to  grow, 
it  must  divide  and  disperse.     If  man  had 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


227 


been  confined  to  the  portion  of  earth  first 
peopled,  his  progress  in  social,  material, 
and   mental   development,   as  well  as  in 
numbers,  would  have  been  arrested  in  the 
first  stages.      God  willed   that  the  race 
should  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth, 
that  human  nature  should  unfold  itself  in 
all  directions.     In  order  to  this,  it  needed 
that  mankind  should  divide  and  disperse, 
form  colonies,  wander  forth  into  new  re- 
gions ;  each  colony  in  turn,  after  reaching 
a  certain  stage  of  maturity,  sending  forth 
new  ones,  and  each  new  colony  increasing 
more  rapidly  than  the  parent  stock.    Such, 
to  this  day,  has  been  the  method  of  human 
progress.     The  population  of  Europe  has 
not  been  sensibly  affected  by  the  constant 
influx  of  immigration   to   this   continent 
since  the  fifteenth  century,  while  out  of 
that  immigration  a  new  Europe  has  grown 
up  which  is  fast  outstripping  the  old. 

If  humanity  had  been  confined  to  the 
land  of  its  nativity,  its  development  w^ould 
have  been  one-sided,  partial,  incomplete. 
The  same  local  conditions,  the  same  cli- 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion.' 


228 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


mate  and  traditions  would  still  have  pro- 
duced the  same  characters,  the  same  cul- 
ture, from  age  to  age.  Such  has  been  the 
lot  of  the  nations  inhabiting  that  portion 
of  the  earth.  Immobility  is  their  com- 
mon characteristic.  A  stationary,  narrow, 
one-sided  culture  is  the  standing  type  of 
Oriental  life. 

Unity  in  variety  is  the  law  of  growth. 
It  was  necessary  that  man  should  know 
other  climes,  should  be  subjected  to  every 
variety  of  condition,  witness  every  aspect 
of  nature,  become  familiar  with  every  por- 
tion and  product  of  the  planet  on  which  he 
is  cast,  in  order  that  every  side  of  his  com- 
plex nature  might  be  unfolded  and  every 
faculty  brought  into  play.  Therefore,  God, 
"  of  one  blood,"  made  many  nations  "  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  There- 
fore, he  gave  to  some  the  burning  tropics, 
to  some  the  arctic  circle,  to  some  the  tem- 
perate zone.  To  one  portion  of  the  hu- 
man race  he  assigned  the  dark  skin  and 
obscure  conditions  of  the  African,  to  an- 
other the  fervid  heart  and  wandering  life 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


229 


of  the  Bedouin,  to  another  still  the  high 
culture,  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  the 
European.  Therefore,  he  appointed  dif- 
ferent polities,  institutions,  faiths;  and 
brought  humanity  into  contact  with  all 
external  and  internal  conditions,  with  all 
material  and  spiritual  forces  and  facts, 
that,  by  means  of  all,  he  miglit  complete 
the  great  work  of  time,  —  the  education  of 
the  race.  And  this  process  of  division 
and  divergence,  which  began  Rve  thou- 
sand years  ago,  will  proceed  until  man 
has  thoroughly  surveyed  and  penetrated 
and  learned  by  heart  the  globe  he  inhab- 
its, and  resolved  in  his  experience  every 
fact  and  condition  of  terrestrial  life. 

Coincident  and  co-ordinate  with  the  sep- 
aration and  dispersion  of  human  kind  the 
narrative  affirms  a  confusion  of  tongues; 
i.  e.  a  division  or  development  of  the 
aborignal  language  into  new  and  differ- 
ent dialects,  the  speakers  of  which  be- 
come mutually  unintelligible  to  each  other. 
This,  too,  is  a  natural  process  governed  by 
fixed  laws,  a  part  of  the  necessary  and  di- 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


230 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

7%e  Great 
Dispersion. 


vine  order.     There  is  here  no  extraordi- 
nary or  exceptional  agency.     The  speech 
of  the  Babel-builders  was  confounded  by 
the  operation  of  causes  which  must  have 
produced  a  diversity  of  tongues  without 
a  Babel  as  well  as  with  one.     So  great,  in 
fact,  was  the  natural  tendency  to  differ- 
ence of  speech  in  undeveloped  man  that 
a  miracle  would  have  been   required  to 
prevent  it.     Languages  fully  formed  and 
possessing  a  written  vocabulary  and  a  lit- 
erature change  little  from  century  to  cen- 
tury.    But,  prior  to   tlie   art   of  writing, 
while  speech  lives  only  in  oral  communi- 
cations, it  is  liable  to  great  fluctuations, 
additions,  varying  inflexions,   and   diver- 
gent formations  contingent  on  new  varie- 
ties of  human  nature  and  new  exigencies 
of  thought  and  life.     In  the  case  before 
us  we  have  the  population  of  a  great  and 
growing  empire  engaged  in  an  enterprise 
of    national    aggrandizement,   while    lan- 
guage was  in  its  infancy  and  when  tlie 
number  of  words  already  in  use  was  whol- 
ly inadequate  to  the  designation  and  dis- 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


231 


cussion  of  the  topics  about  which  it  was 
necessary  to  confer.  New  exigencies,  new 
ideas,  were  constantly,  requiring  new  ex- 
pressions. These  expressions  would  nat- 
urally differ  with  different  individuals  and 
clans ;  new  and  independent  vocabularies 
would  be  formed,  new  inflexions,  which 
gradually  developed  into  new  languages. 

Language  is  an  exponent  of  character, 
and  will   necessarily  vary  with  different 
individuals  and  bodies   of  men  while  it 
exists  in   that   fluid   and  unsettled  state 
which  precedes  the  use  of  it  as  a  written 
dialect.     The  phenomenon  which  this  nar- 
rative describes  has  been  often  repeated 
in  the  history  of  nations.     The  lanouacres 
spoken   by  the   Indian   tribes   that   once 
peopled  this  continent  are  related  to  each 
other  by  affinities  which  indicate  an  orig- 
inal identity  between  them.     They  were 
pi^obably  one  in  some  remote  age,  but  so 
different  are  they  now  that  the  use  of  one 
of  them  does  not  enable  the  speaker  to 
converse  himself,  or  to  understand  one  who 
converses  in  another;  and  so  fluid  that  I 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


232 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


the  missionary  who  revisited  a  tribe  after 
a  lapse  of  ten  years  found  a  new  dialect, 
and  was  no  longer  able  to  make  himseK 
understood  in  the  old.  Our  own  language 
was  long  subject  to  great  fluctuations ;  it 
differed  widely  in  different  provinces  of 
England,  until  the  use  of  it  as  a  written 
tongue,  the  art  of  printing,  and  especially 
the  received  version  of  the  Bible,  gave  it 
a  fixed  and  permanent  character.  The 
English  spoken  in  the  time  of  Edward 
III.  would  be  unintelligible  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  Even  now,  the  dialects  spoken 
by  different  classes  of  society  and  differ- 
ent provinces  of  Great  Britain  —  and  the 
same  is  true  of  the  dialects  of  Germany, 
France,  and  other  nations  of  Europe  —  dif- 
fer so  widely  as  to  somewhat  embarrass 
oral  communication  between  them. 

In  view  of  these  facts  we  can  easily 
understand  how  differences  of  speech, 
amounting  to  an  unintelligible  confusion 
of  tongues,  should  arise  among  the  early 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  in  the  centuries 
that  elapsed  between  the  first  settlement 


! 


'. 


i 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


233 


of  the  plain  of  Shinar  and  the  final  dis- 
persion of  the  tribes.  And  tliese  differ- 
ences, which  began  to  manifest  themselves 
before  that  dispersion,  which  contributed 
to  bring  about  that  event,  would,  of  course, 
be  multiplied  and  hardened  by  it.  And 
so  the  dissolution  of  the  first  Babylonian 
—  the  first  universal  —  empire  is  histor- 
ically connected  with  the  first  division, 
say,  rather,  with  the  earliest  development 
of  human  speech.  It  marks  that  crisis  in 
human  progress  when  language,  which  up 
to  that  period  had  reached  but  the  infant, 
monosyllabic  stage, — the  stage  represented 
by  the  language  of  China  at  this  day,*  — 
developed  itself  into  new  and  nobler,  more 
capable,  more  flexible,  more  expressive 
forms  of  oral  and  written  communication. 
The  destruction  of  every  great  empire, 
in  periods  antecedent  to  the  art  of  print- 
ing, has  been  attended  with  a  like  result. 
"  All  new  languages,"  says  Bunsen,  "  have 

*  Bunsen  supposes  that  the  Cliincse  language  is  es- 
sentially or  structurally  the  same  with  that  which  was 
spoken  in  Babel  before  the  dispersion. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


234 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


arisen  from  the  breaking  up  of  some  great 
political  bond  which  imposed  one  speech 
on  its  constituents."  Tims  the  dissohition 
of  the  Eoman  Empire  gave  birth  to  five  or 
six  of  the  languages  of  modern  Europe,  all 
of  which  are  derived,  with  various  admix- 
tures and  modifications,  from  the  Latin. 

The  real  significance  of  Babel,  then,  in 
relation  to  the  highest  of  human  functions, 
— speech, — is  not  corruption,  but  progress. 
What  the  record,  in  accordance  with  the 
childish  feeling  of  the  time  which  pro- 
duced it,  represents  as  a  sudden  and  mi- 
raculous confusion  of  tongues,  reveals  it- 
self to  our  riper  understanding  as  method 
and  law,  as  a  part  of  that  orderly  process 
which  language,  in  common  with  every 
other  power  and  product  of  human  nature, 
obeys,  and  by  which  it  proceeds  from  its 
rudimental  to  its  perfect  state. 

So  much  for  the  scientific  and  historic 
import  of  this  ancient  fragment ;  but  the 
story  has  a  moral  which  claims  attention 
before  we  dismiss  the  record  and  the 
theme. 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


235 


The  kingdom  founded  by  Nimrod  in 
Mesopotamia  five  thousand  years  ago,  the 
kingdom  which  culminated  in  the  daring 
enterprise  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  is  the 
first  attempt,  so  far  as  we  know,  at  univer- 
sal empire.  Nimrod,  its  founder,  "  began," 
it  is  said,  "to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth. 
He  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord." 
Or,  according  to  the  Alexandrian  version, 
"  against  the  Lord,"  opposed  to  the  Lord, 
God-defying.  "Wherefore  it  is  said,  'even 
as  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter  against  the 
Lord.'  And  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom 
was  Babel."  Which  means  that  Nimrod 
was  the  first  conqueror,  the  first  autocrat, 
the  first  who  changed  the  patriarchal  rule 
for  the  despotic ;  the  earliest  name  in  the 
bloody  heraldry  of  selfish  ambition;  found- 
er of  a  line  not  yet  extinct,  but  still  repro- 
ducing itself  from  age  to  age.  The  idea  of 
a  tower  which  should  reach  to  the  heavens, 
of  a  city  which  should  be  the  world's  cap- 
ital, an  empire  which  should  gather  all 
kindreds  and  tribes  under  one  name,  in 
one  confederate  body,  was  a  project  worthy 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


234 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


arisen  from  the  breaking  up  of  some  great 
political  bond  which  imposed  one  speech 
on  its  constituents."  Thus  the  dissolution 
of  the  Roman  Empire  gave  birth  to  five  or 
six  of  the  languages  of  modern  Europe,  all 
of  which  are  derived,  with  various  admix- 
tures and  modifications,  from  the  Latin. 

The  real  significance  of  Babel,  then,  in 
relation  to  the  highest  of  human  functions, 
— speech, — is  not  corruption,  but  progress. 
What  the  record,  in  accordance  with  the 
childish  feeling  of  the  time  which  pro- 
duced it,  represents  as  a  sudden  and  mi- 
raculous confusion  of  tongues,  reveals  it- 
self to  our  riper  understanding  as  method 
and  law,  as  a  part  of  that  orderly  process 
which  language,  in  common  with  every 
other  power  and  product  of  human  nature, 
obeys,  and  by  which  it  proceeds  from  its 
rudimental  to  its  perfect  state. 

So  much  for  the  scientific  and  historic 
import  of  this  ancient  fragment ;  but  the 
story  has  a  moral  which  claims  attention 
before  we  dismiss  the  record  and  the 
theme. 


THE  GREAT  DISPERSION. 


235 


The  kingdom  founded  by  Nimrod  in 
Mesopotamia  five  thousand  years  ago,  the 
kingdom  which  culminated  in  the  daring 
enterprise  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  is  the 
first  attempt,  so  far  as  we  know,  at  univer- 
sal empire.  Nimrod,  its  founder,  "  began," 
it  is  said,  "to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth. 
He  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord." 
Or,  according  to  the  Alexandrian  version, 
"  against  the  Lord,"  opposed  to  the  Lord, 
God-defying.  "Wherefore  it  is  said,  'even 
as  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter  against  the 
Lord.'  And  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom 
was  Babel."  Wliich  means  that  Nimrod 
was  the  first  conqueror,  the  first  autocrat, 
the  first  who  changed  the  patriarchal  rule 
for  the  despotic ;  the  earliest  name  in  the 
bloody  heraldry  of  selfish  ambition;  found- 
er of  a  line  not  yet  extinct,  but  still  repro- 
ducing itself  from  age  to  age.  The  idea  of 
a  tower  which  should  reach  to  the  heavens, 
of  a  city  which  should  be  the  world's  cap- 
ital, an  empire  which  should  gather  all 
kindreds  and  tribes  under  one  name,  in 
one  confederate  body,  was  a  project  worthy 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


236 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Qreat 
Dispersion. 


such  a  character  and  worthy  the  infancy 
of  the  race,  before  man  had  measured  the 
extent  of  his  powers,  or  had  learned  the 
limits  of  human  nature  and  of  human  life. 
No  wonder  that  the  mighty  of  that  day, 
the  "  giants  "  of  the  earth,  should  be  moved 
to  attempt  what  has  been  so  often  at- 
tempted since.  The  Babel-builders  liave 
had  their  fellows  in  every  age.  Lust  of 
dominion  in  every  age  has  attempted  works 
as  proud  in  their  design,  as  ridiculous  in 
their  conclusion,  as  the  tower  which  was 
planned  to  defy  nature  and  to  vanquish 
time,  —  works  arrested  in  mid-progress  by 
the  insufficiency  and  confusion  of  those 
engaged  in  them,  monuments  of  liuman 
frailty  bearing  on  their  front :  "  These  men 
began  to  build  and  were  not  able  to  fin- 
ish." "  Go  to,  now,"  says  ambition,  "  let 
us  build  us  a  city  and  a  to\^•er,  and  let  us 
make  us  a  name."  There  went  a  tradition 
among  the  Hebrews  that  the  builders  of 
that  impossible  tower  caused  each  his 
name  to  be  inscribed  on  one  of  the  bricks 
of  which  the  structure  was  composed,  hop- 


THE   GREAT   DISPERSION. 


237 


I 


ing  by  that  means  to  perpetuate  them  to 
endless  ages.  What  those  names  were 
who  knows  or  cares  to  know  ?  But  one 
of  them  has  survived,  and  that  only  as  the 
name  of  a  monstrous,  lawless  force,  not  a 
child  of  humanity,  with  wdiom  Ave  asso- 
ciate human  interests  and  affections.  Thus 
the  usurpers  and  lawless  leaders  of  their 
time  vainly  endeavor  to  perpetuate  their 
name  with  their  works.  Thus  their  works 
perish  with  them,  and  their  names,  if  they 
survive  at  all,  survive  as  unmeaning  ci- 
phers written  upon  ruins.  The  most  gift- 
ed, the  most  successful,  the  world-renowned 
conquerors,  —  the  Alexanders,  the  Caesars, 
the  Attilas,  the  Tamerlanes,  the  Napo- 
leons, names  "at  which  the  world  grew 
pale,"  —  remain  now  only 

"  To  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale." 

One  thing  more.  The  story  of  Babel 
imports  a  division  and  dispersion  of  the 
human  family  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  a  necessary  condition  of  human  de- 
velopment and  progress.      But  Christian 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


238 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


prophecy  contemplates  a  time  when  di- 
vision and  dispersion,  having  done  their 
work,  shall  cease  at  last,  and  a  process  of 
assimilation  commence  which  shall  end 
by  restoring  to  the  race  its  original  unity 
on  a  new  and  higher  plane ;  not  in  the 
way  of  gift  but  achievement,  —  the  result 
of  millennial  growths,  reposing  on  millen- 
nial experience,  fortified  by  impregnable 
guaranties,  assured  by  divine  law.  As- 
tronomers tell  us  that  the  heavenly  sys- 
tems, after  reaching  the  extreme  of  diver- 
gence and  exhausting  the  range  of  their 
centrifugal  forces,  tend  to  reunion,  and 
seem,  in  some  regions  explored  by  the  tel- 
escope to  be  already  merging  into  one. 
May  we  not  hope  for  the  earthly  systems 
of  society,  now  so  widely  sundered,  so 
sharply  divided,  a  like  destiny  ?  May  we 
not  look  for  a  day  of  restoration  when 
the  process  of  reunion  for  man  shall  be- 
gin ?  May  we  not  say  that  through  the 
historic  Atonement  and  through  the  rec- 
onciling power  of  Christian  truth,  it  has 
abeady  begun  ?     Though  all  attempts  to 


I 


THE   GREAT  DISPERSION. 


239 


force  a  union  by  extension  of  empire  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Babel-builders  must  prove 
abortive  and  end  in  confusion  and  ruin, 
there   is  reason  to  believe  that  a  closer 
union  of  man  with  man  the  world  over 
is  designed  in  the  order  of  God.     Not  a 
forced  combination  by  secular  or  ecclesi- 
astical bonds,  but  a  voluntary  union  in  the 
name  of  that  humanity  which  is  common 
to  all,  in  the  name  of  Him  in  whom  a 
divine  humanity  was  revealed,  in  whom 
there  is   neither  Jew  nor   Gentile,  bond 
nor  free.     To  "  gather  into  one  the  nations 
that  are  scattered"  is  represented  in  the 
New  Testament  as  the  mission  of  Christ. 
Born  of  one  parentage,  sprung  from  one 
stock,  all  men,  even  now,  are  essentially 
one.     Under  all  the  diversities  of  govern- 
ment, custom,  color,  clime,  which  divide 
the  nations,  there  is  a  unity  deeper  than 
all  these.     The  humanity  of  each  nation 
is  older  and  deeper  than  all  its  traditions, 
than    institutions,    language,    race.      One 
blood  circulates  in  all  human  veins,  one 
divinity  lives  in  all  souls.     One  spirit  is 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


/' 


240 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  X. 

The  Great 
Dispersion. 


over  all  and  in  all.  Let  us  not  forget  it, 
in  all  our  j  anglings  and  necessary  con- 
flicts, that  we  and  our  adversaries,  be  they 
individuals  or  be  they  nations,  at  bottom 
are  one,  divinely  one;  and  while  in  hu- 
mility and  sober  resignation  we  accept,  as 
providential  appointment,  the  inevitable 
feuds  and  collisions  of  our  time,  let  us 
cast  our  thought  beyond  the  time  and  re- 
joice to  contemplate  in  the  spirit  what  we 
may  not  witness  in  the  flesh. 


XI. 


JEHOVAH    AND   ABRAHAM. 


A    HEBREW    IDYL. 


11 


JEHOVAH   AND   ABRAHAM. 


243 


JEHOVAH  AND  ABRAHAM. 

A    HEBREW    IDYL. 

"And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Abraham  in  the 
plain  of  Mamre."  —  Genesis  xviii.  1. 

The  reader  versed  in  the  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  encounters  in  the  narra- 
tive thus  introduced  the  only  statement 
these  Scriptures  contain  of  a  converse  of 
God  with  man,  which  condescends  to  phys- 
ical details  and  simulates  the  Gentile  the- 
ophanies.  Jehovah,  attended  by  two  an- 
gels, visits  Abraham  in  his  tent.  The 
patriarch  receives  them  with  zealous  hos- 
pitaHty,  washes  their  feet  in  the  way  of  an- 
cient courtesy,  causes  a  calf  to  be  killed  and 
dressed,  and  cakes  to  be  baked.  He  pro- 
vides for  their  refreshment  the  best  which 
his  stores  afford,  "  and  set  it  before  them, 
and  he  stood  by  them  and  they  did  eat." 
After  this  entertainment,  which  the  heav- 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


244 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


enly  visitors  reward  with  the  promise  of  a 
long  posterity  to  Abraham  and  Sara  his 
wife,  the  two  angels  depart  on  their  way  to 
the  doomed  city  of  Sodom,  but  Jehovah  re- 
mains behind.  And  "  Abraham  stood  yet 
before  the  Lord."  Then  ensues  that  re- 
markable colloquy  in  which  Abraham  in- 
tercedes with  Jehovah  in  behalf  of  the  right- 
eous dwelling  in  Sodom,  who  ought  not, 
he  pleads,  to  be  destroyed  with  the  guilty. 
"  That  be  far  from  thee  to  do  after  this  man- 
ner, to  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked. 
.  .  .  .  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right  ? "  Suppose  there  are  fifty  righteous 
in  Sodom,  shall  they  share  the  fate  of  the 
rest  ?  "  And  the  Lord  said,  If  I  find  in 
Sodom  fifty  righteous  within  the  city,  I 
will  spare  all  the  place  for  their  sakes." 
But  suppose  the  number  to  be  somewhat 
less.  "  Peradventure  there  shall  lack  five 
of  the  fifty  righteous."  "  And  he  said,  If 
I  find  there  forty  and  five  I  will  not  de- 
stroy it."  "Peradventure  there  shall  be 
but  forty,"  but  thirty,  but  twenty.  To 
each  of  which  suppositions   the   Eternal 


/, 


JEHOVAH  AND  ABRAHAM. 


245 


replies,  "  I  will  not  do  it  for  forty's,"  "  for 
thirty's,"  "  for  twenty's  sake."  Finally,  he 
pleads:  "I  will  speak  yet  but  this  once. 
Pemdventure  ten  shall  be  found  there. 
And  he  said,  I  will  not  destroy  it  for  ten's 
sake.  And  the  Lord  went  his  way  as  soon 
as  he  had  left  communing  with  Abraham, 
and  Abraham  returned  unto  his  place." 

The  whole  narrative  —  dinner  and  con- 
versation included  —  is  exceptional.  A 
visible,  palpable  appearance  of  God  to 
man  is  rare  in  Hebrew  tradition,  which 
differs  widely  in  this  respect  from  that  of 
the  Greek  and  Eoman  world.  Usually,  it 
is  the  "  Word  of  the  Lord  "  addressing  the 
mind,  or  the  "  Angel  of  the  Lord  "  address- 
ing the  sense,  that  mediates  the  divine 
communication.  But  here  the  narrative 
exhibits  a  visible  personal  appearance  of 
the  national  Jehovah  to  the  great  progen- 
itor of  the  Hebrew  people, — a  God  who  is 
not  only  seen  and  heard,  but  touched,  who 
not  only  walks  and  talks  but  eats  I 

There  are  three  ways  of  dealing  with 
these  Biblical  portents.     The  first  is  that 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraliam. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


246 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


of  unconditional  acceptance  and  literal  in- 
terpretation. The  second  is  unqualified 
rejection  and  scornful  repudiation.  The 
third  is  frank  but  reverential  criticism. 
The  first  was  possible  only  on  the  ground 
of  blind  submission  to  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority. It  was  possible  only  while  the 
use  of  reason  in  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture was  forbidden  or  unknown.  It  is  not 
possible  at  the  present  day  to  critical  read- 
ei-s  who  aim  to  comprehend,  and  seek  to 
adjust  with  rational  view^s  and  Christian 
truth  what  they  read.  When  the  New 
Testament  declares  that  "no  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time  or  can  see  him,"  it 
makes  the  literal,  liistorical  interpretation 
of  the  narrative  in  question  impossible 
with  any  who  accept  that  teaching. 

The  second  manner  of  handling  such 
narratives  —  that  of  unqualified  and  im- 
patient rejection  —  is  very  natural  and 
very  common  at  that  stage  of  criticism, 
or  in  that  condition  of  mind  in  which, 
whilst  the  pressure  of  authority  has  ceased 
to   operate  and  blind  veneration  is   out- 


JEHOVAH  AND  ABRAHAM. 


247 


grown,  the  spirit  of  friendly  and  reverent 
inquiry  has  not  yet  succeeded  to  the  va- 
cant place.  It  is  very  natural  and  very 
common  in  that  state  of  mind  and  to  that 
cast  of  character  in  which  the  negative 
tendency  predominates  over  the  affirma- 
tive, in  which  "  no  "  is  a  readier  word  in 
Biblical  criticism  and  in  all  criticism  than 
"  yes  "  or  "  perhaps."  To  minds  so  condi- 
tioned and  characters  so  constituted  a  nar- 
rative like  this  —  a  tale  of  Jehovah  sitting 
at  meat  —  is  so  repugnant,  so  revoltingly 
absurd  that  they  incontinently  and  indig- 
nantly reject  the  whole  story  as  the  mon- 
strous invention  of  childish  superstition, 
and  perhaps  repudiate  the  book  which 
contains  it,  together  with  it  and  because 
of  it.  The  feeling  is  natural  but  the  judg- 
ment is  not  philosophical,  nor  is  the  state 
of  mind  in  which  it  originates  conclu- 
sive or  propitious  to  right  results.  Many 
things  in  the  Bible  are  sufficiently  absurd 
as  seen  in  the  light  of  the  understanding 
alone,  without  regard  to  time  and  place, 
but  the  book  is  too  weighty  and  too  exalt- 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


248  PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


ed,  independently  of  all  ecclesiastical  sanc- 
tions, and  its  use  in  the  offices  of  religion ; 
it  is  too  venerable  and  sacred,  too  replete 
with  the  highest  and  deepest  in  human 
experience  ;  too  hallowed  and  endeared  by 
sacred  associations  to  be  flippantly  handled 
in  any  of  its  parts.     Where  so  mucli  is 
great  and  divine  it  is  fair  to  presume  that 
those  passages  which  are  most  offensive  to 
the  critical  sense  admit  of  a  view  which 
shall   vindicate,   if  not   their   historic   or 
theological  truth,  their  right  to   a  place 
in  the  sacred  literature  of  the  nations  and 
religions  that  have   seen  fit   to   preserve 
them,      If  the   alternative   were   historic 
verity  or  wilful  invention,  infallible  fact 
or  meaningless  falsehood,  the  honest  critic 
must  needs  reject.     But  between  the  two 
there  is  a  third  more  excellent  way,  —  the 
way  of  reverent  criticism. 

There  are  several  hypotheses  which 
might  be  entertained  of  this  story,  all 
equally  consistent  with  the  credit  of  the 
author  and  the  writing.  It  may  have  been 
a  vision  of  the  patriarch  Abraham,  —  the 


JEHOVAH   AND   ABRAHAM. 


249 


vision  of  a  man  who,  though  far  in  advance 
of  his  time,  was  not  too  enlightened  to 
dream  of  personal  converse  with  Jehovah. 
A  vision  which,  passing  in  oral  tradition 
from  generation   to   generation,    came   at 
length  to  assume,  by  gradual  but  unin- 
tentional perversion,  the  form  of  historic 
statement.     Or  it  may  have  been  an  alle- 
gory designed  to  illustrate   moral   truths 
and  characteristic  ancestral  traits,  which 
got  incorporated  with  the  history  of  the 
time.     Or  it  may  be  what  modern  criti- 
cism terms  a  " imjth"  by  which  we  under- 
stand not  a  wilful  fabrication,  but  a  com- 
pound of  truth  and  fiction,  —  unintention- 
al fiction,  in  which  it  is  difficult,  sometimes 
impossible,  to  find  the  boundary  between 
the  two,  —  a  story  containing  a  nucleus  of 
historic  truth,  but  grown  in  the  lapse  of 
time,  by  passage  from  mouth  to  mouth,  by 
misapprehension  of  some  of  its  reporters, 
by  unconscious  exaggeration  or  perversion, 
into  something  wide  of  the  original  fact. 
An  instance  of  this  mythical  formation  is 

the  story  of  the  "  eleven  thousand  virgins," 
11  ♦ 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


250 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


said  to  have  suffered  martyrdom  at  Co- 
logne, whose  pretended  bones  are  still  ex- 
hibited in  one  of  the  churches  of  that  city. 
The  kernel  of  fact,  in  this  case,  was  the 
martyrdom  of  a  single  maid  whose  Latin 
name;  mispronounced    or   misheard,   was 
taken  for   the   number   eleven   thousand. 
Another    such   instance   is    supposed  by 
some  to   be  the   story  which  makes   St. 
Peter  the  first  bishop  of  the  Church  of 
Eome,  on  the  strength  of  a  passage  in  one 
of  the  canonical  Epistles   in  which   the 
word  Babylon  is  interpreted  allegorically 
as  signifying  Rome.    Another,  still,  is  that 
which  identifies  St.  Denis,  the  patron  saint 
of  France,   with   Dionysius   the  Areopa- 
gite,  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles.    In  the  case  before  us  —  supposing 
the  story  to  be  a  myth  in  this  sense  of 
the   word — the   latent   germ  of  historic 
truth  may  have  been  some  personal  expe- 
rience of  the  patriarch,  the  true  nature  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  and 
which  tradition,  confounding  together  vis- 
ions and  passages  of  active  life,  embodied 


JEHOVAH   AND    ABRAHAM. 


251 


in    the   form   in   which   it   is   here   pre- 
sented. 

Or,  finally,  suppose  the  passage  to .  be 
pure  invention,  suppose  it  a  poem  in  which 
the  personality  of  Abraham  and  his  resi- 
dence in  Mamre  are  the  only  historical 
elements.     It  is  not  surprising  that  poetry 
should  turn  to  history  in  oral  tradition. 
It  would  not  by  any  means  be  the  only 
instance  in  the  Bible  in  which  a  poetic 
composition  has  got  incorporated  in  the 
history  of  an  epoch  or  an  individual,  and 
so  fitted  to  the  context  in  which  it  ap- 
pears as  to  read  like  a  part  of  the  record, 
with  nothing  to  mark  the  transition  from 
fact  to  poetry  and  from  poetry  to  fact.    To 
cite  but  one  instance  of  such  interpolation, 
the  dying  charge  of  the  patriarch  Jacob  to 
his  twelve  sons,  in  the  forty-ninth  chapter 
of  Genesis,  is  a  poem  so  inwoven  with  the 
history  of  the  time  as  to  form  an  integral 
part  of  the  record,  with  no  external  indi- 
cation and  no  announcement  of  the  author 
to  mark  where  poetry  begins  £Cnd  history 
ends. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


252 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


This,  I  confess,  is  the  view  of  the  pas- 
sage to  which  my  own  judgment  inclines. 
I  regard  it  as  a  poem  of  the  class  called 
Idyl,  —  a  poem  of  unknown  authorship 
and  unknown  antiquity,  but  belonging,  no 
doubt,  to  the  period  of  the  first  essays  of 
Hebrew  literature ;  not  allegorical  in  the 
strict  and  technical  sense,  yet  partaking 
somewhat  of  the  characteristics  of  that 
species  of  composition ;  a  poem  whose 
chief  aim  is  to  glorify  Abraham  and  with 
him  the  race  of  Israel,  his  favored  proge- 
ny ;  to  illustrate  especially  the  one  trait  so 
distinct  and  distinguishing  in  the  mighty 
patriarch,  that  prevailing  consciousness  of 
God  which  the  Scripture  terms  "faith," 
and  by  virtue  of  which  Abraham  is  be- 
come a  typical  and  representative  person- 
age, not  to  Israel  only,  but  to  all  the  race 
of  Shem,  —  the  hero  and  prototj^e  of  trust- 
ing piety.  As  such  he  is  presented  to  the 
Christian  mind  by  St.  Paul :  "  Know,  there- 
fore, that  they  which  are  of  faith,  the  same 
are  the  children  of  Abraham."  A  further 
and  secondary  purpose  seems  to  have  dic- 


JEHOVAH   AND   ABRAHAM. 


253 


tated  the  latter  portion  of  this  composi- 
tion, —  the  colloquy  regarding  the  fate  of 
Sodom.  Here  the  design  is  apparently  to 
vindicate  the  relatives  of  Abraham  resid- 
ing in  Sodom  —  the  family  of  Lot  —  from 
the  charge  of  universal  corruption  pro- 
nounced on  that  fated  city ;  with  perhaps 
an  allegorical  intimation  of  the  saving 
power  of  the  righteous  few  in  the  midst 
of  a  "  wicked  and  perverse  generation." 

In  order  to  fully  appreciate  the  high 
significance  of  this  fragment  of  primeval 
literature,  we  must  form  in  our  minds  a 
true  conception  of  the  personality  of  Abra- 
ham and  the  place  he  once  occupied  in  the 
Hebrew  imagination  as  Israel's  ancestral 
hero,  great-grandsire  of  the  princely  Jo- 
seph, Lord  Chancellor  of  Egypt,  prime-min- 
ister of  the  first  Sesostris,  the  chief  of  that 
illustrious  line.  And  Abraham  has  wider 
relations.  He  is  one  of  the  great  leaders 
of  human  kind.  In  him  we  have  the  first 
monotheist ;  and  not  only  so,  but  the  earli- 
est historic  personality,  the  first  historic  in- 
dividual who  is  anything  more  to  us  than 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abrahatn. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


^iiStti^lM  et^MitslW^ 


iMti^fiiiiMaMXkiiiiS^.;SrS,.^i;,^^i^ 


254 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


JEHOVAH  AND  ABRAHAM. 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


a  name.  Others  there  are  antecedent  to 
Abraham  by  tliousands  of  years,  —  actual 
personages,  it  may  be,  —  but  none  other 
of  whom  enough  has  survived  to  give  the 
impression  of  a  marked  personality,  no 
earlier  actor  in  the  scenes  of  time  of  whose 
character  and  way  of  life  we  can  form  a 
distinct  conception.  This  is  the  first  fig- 
ure in  the  world's  annals  who  presents  a 
definite  image  to  the  mind.  In  this  sense 
he  is  the  ancestor,  not  of  the  people  of  Is- 
rael only,  but  of  universal  man. 

Such  is  the  sublime,  the  sacred  import 
to  all  succeeding  time  of  that  primeval  per- 
sonality which  bears  the  name  of  Abraham, 
and  whose  indelible  impress,  as  stamped 
on  his  age,  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  Bible. 
Of  such  an  individual  it  must  needs  be 
that  every  authentic  tradition  would  be 
gathered  up  and  religiously  preserved  by 
a  grateful  and  admiring  posterity.  And, 
not  only  so,  but  connected  therewith  there 
would  almost  of  necessity  arise  in  time  a 
host  of  sagas,  a  ,mass  of  legendary  and 
mythic  lore   such   as  gathers   around  all 


♦ 


Providential  men,  a  miscellaneous  growth 
in  which  grains  of  fact  are  so  blent  with 
allegory  and  fable  that  criticism  cannot 
always  separate  the  nucleus  of  historic 
truth  from  the  nebula  of  fiction  which 
envelops  it. 

Concerning  such  an  one  tales  would  be 
framed  and  poems  composed  as  codicils  to 
the  genuine  original  story,  —  supplemental 
illustrations  of  his  spirit  and  life.     The 
narrative  in  question,  describing  the  visit 
of  Jehovah  to  Abraham  and  the  confer- 
ence between  them,  may  be  supposed  to 
be  one  of  these  poems,  unmetrical  in  form,* 
but  exhibiting  in  structure,  spirit,  and  de- 
sign the  essential  marks  of  poetic  compo- 
sition, —  an  imaginary  sketch  of  patriarch- 
al life,  a  poetic  bodying  forth  of  spiritual 
truth. 

As  a  poem,  then,  as  a  Hebrew  Idyl,  this 
writing  is  not  to  be  judged  by  the  stand- 
ard of  our  time,  least  of  all  by  modern 
Christian  conceptions  of  the  Godhead.    Its 


*  The   modern  idyl  is  often   unmetrical;   witness 
those  of  Gessner. 


255 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


256 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


representations  are  sucli  as  were  current 
in  the  childhood  of  the  race,  when  the  in- 
finite God  could  be  supposed  to  appear 
in  human  form  and  hold  personal,  visible, 
and  oral  converse  with  man.  Considered  in 
this  aspect,  the  Hebrew  poem  may  fairly 
challenge  comparison  in  matter,  if  not  in 
form,  in  force  of  conception,  in  vivid  col- 
oring and  sensuous  imagination,  still  more 
in  moral  earnestness  and  spiritual  truth, 
with  the  best  in  its  kind  of  classic  an- 
tiquity. There  has  come  down  to  us  a 
Latin  poem  of  Ovid,  a  writer  of  the  Augus- 
tan age,  embodying  a  Greek  mythological 
tradition,  —  the  story  of  Baucis  and  Phil- 
emon, —  which  offers  in  one  or  two  points 
a  curious  parallel  with  this  of  the  Penta- 
teuch. Two  Olympian  deities,  Jove  and 
Mercury,  visit  in  disguise  the  cottage  of  a 
Phrygian  shepherd.*  They  are  hospitably 
received  by  him  and  his  wife,  who  exert 
themselves  to  provide  a  fit  entertainment 
for  the  unknown  guests.  So  far  the  par- 
allel holds  good,  and  the  scene  and  char- 

*  Ovid,  Metamorph.,  VIII.  630. 


t 

I 


JEHOVAH   AND    ABRAHAM. 


257 


acters  are  drawn  with  exquisite  beauty  by 
the  Eoman  poet.  But  the  sequel  exhibits 
the  superior  strain  of  the  Hebrew.  The 
hospitality  of  Baucis  and  Philemon  is  re- 
warded by  converting  their  house  into  a 
temple,  by  making  them  the  ministering 
servants,  the  priest  and  priestess,  of  the 
new  sanctuary,  and  granting  them  an  equal 
term  of  years.  In  the  case  of  Abraham 
the  same  virtue  is  requited  with  the  prom- 
ise of  the  long-desired  succession,  and  a 
blessing  which  extends  through  distant 
generations,  embracing  the  whole  earth  in 
its  gracious  scope.  "And  the  Lord  said 
....  Abraham  shall  surely  become  a 
great  and  mighty  nation,  and  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him." 
The  crowning  beauty  of  the  Hebrew 
narrative  is  Abraham's  plea  for  the  city 
of  Sodom.  To  his  intercession  it  is  prom- 
ised tliat  if  ten  righteous  be  found  within 
its  gates  the  city  shall  not  be  destroyed 
for  the  sake  of  those  ten.  Here  the  story 
assumes  an  allegorical  character,  and,  under 
the  guise  of  a  special  local  application. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  atid 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


258 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


wwsa*ti^«t<j:W,^*&  i^:«<*^  iiSsr^eiSiit&sa^sk:.^:^ 


JEHOVAH  AND  ABRAHAM. 


259 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


shadows  forth  a  universal  moral  truth,  — 
the   saving  influence  of  moral  worth  in 
human   society.     Cities   and   nations   are 
saved   by   the   righteous    that    dwell    in 
them,  not  by  arts  or  arms.     The  health 
of  a   country    is   not   its    commerce   nor 
its  agriculture,  not  its  exports  nor  its  im- 
ports;    neither   its    military    organization 
nor  its  civil   constitution,   its   legislation 
nor  its  judiciary,  but  its  conscience ;  i.  e. 
the  moral  elevation  of  its  citizens.     A  re- 
cent historian  is  at  pains  to  prove  that 
the  progress  of  society  is  due  to  the  intel- 
lectual rather  than  the  moral  powers.     Be 
that  as  it  may,  it  is  very  certain  that  the 
preservation    of    society   depends   on    the 
moral  rather  than  the  intellectual.     Sup- 
pose a  community  in  which  activity  of 
mind  has  reached  its  maximum,  in  which 
all  the  faculties  are  at  work,  all  the  arts 
that  minister  to  human  well-being  duly 
cultivated  and  successfully  practised,  in 
which  intellectual  development  is   more 
advanced    and   more   universal   than   the 
world  has  yet  known  it  at  its  best  estate. 


But  while  the  material  prosperity  attend- 
ant on  this  intellectual  development  is  at 
its  height,  suppose  a  sudden  stagnation  of 
the  moral  life,  a  general  corruption  of  the 
moral  sense;  suppose  the  conscience  of 
such  a  community  paralyzed;  suppose  a 
consequent  decline  and  final  dying  out  of 
all  the  virtues,  a  state  in  which  probi- 
ty, fldelity,  continence,  sobriety,  brotherly 
kindness,  and  charity  are  extinct,  anji 
where  unqualified  selfishness  and  unbri- 
dled lust  universally  prevail.  How  long 
in  such  a  state  would  material  prosperity 
endure  ?  How  long  would  mental  activ- 
ity continue  to  advance  or  refuse  to  re- 
cede ?  How  long  would  arts  and  laws, 
how  long  would  the  state  itself  survive 
the  dissolution  of  the  moral  life  ?  Who 
does  not  see  that  moral  qualities  are  the 
only  sure  guaranties  of  intellectual  pro- 
gress, that  the  virtues  of  society  are  its 
ultimate  bondsmen,  and  righteousness  the 
bulwark  of  the  state  ?  On  the  other  hand, 
the  conservative  power  of  righteousness 
exceeds   its  diffusion.     It  is   not   to  be 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


260 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


measured  by  the  number  of  those  to  whom 
that  character  may  be  ascribed.    The  num- 
ber of  such  in  any  community  is  compara- 
tively small,  but  society  survives  through 
their  saving  power.     The  Swedish  states- 
man was  surprised  to  find  witli  how  little 
wisdom  the  world  is  governed.    The  Chris- 
tian moralist  has  equal  cause  for  wonder 
when  he  thinks  with  liow  little  virtue  the 
world  is  saved,  —  with  how  few  examples 
of  supreme  worth ;  when  he  thinks  how 
small  the-  number  of  the  moral  heroes  of 
history  compared   with   those   who   have 
made  themselves  a  name  and  won  endur- 
ing renown  by  secular  enterprise,  by  mil- 
itary prowess   or   intellectual  gifts.     But 
to  these  it   is  due   that  the  latter  have 
found  opportunity  of  action  and  had  their 
place  in  the  world.     To  the  moral  heroes 
of  history  it  is  due  that  there  ever  was  a 
history  of  human  kind  to  be  written,  that 
there  is  a  history  now  to  be  read,  that  hu- 
man society  continues  to  this  day.     With- 
out these  it  had  perished  long  ago  through 
utter    corruption,   whelmed    in    its    own 


JEHOVAH   AND    ABRAHAM. 


2G1 


ruins,  leaving  no  trace  of  itseK  in  a  world 
dispeopled  of  civilized  kinds  and  aban- 
doned forever  to  savage  tribes.  There 
never  was  an  age  and  never  a  city  or 
state  in  which  moral  corruption  was  not 
too  rife.  In  such  as  survive  the  ever- 
threatening  destruction  and  death  it  is  the 
more  prevailing  virtue  of  the  few  which 
overcomes  the  abounding  vice  of  the  many, 
and  rights  at  last  the  sinking  world.  In 
every  age  those  "  ten  righteous  "  have  been 
tiie  saviors  of  their  time.  They  have 
saved  it  with  their  excellent  works  and 
the  more  excelling  beauty  of  their  lives. 
Without  ostensibly  combining  for  that 
end,  with  no  visible  conspiring,  without 
art  or  device,  or  shrewd  organizatioli,  or 
policy  or  plot ;  by  being  what  they  are, 
and  living  what  they  are  from  the  heart 
of  faith,  by  walking  uprightly,  doing 
justice,  and  loving  mercy,  in  their  sev- 
eral spheres;  with  the  still  conservatism 
and  counter-attraction  of  miraculous  good- 
ness, they  have  kept  the  world  from  go- 
ing  to  pieces  with  the  wear   and   tear 


Chap.  XL 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


^ 


262 


PRLMEVAL  WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XI. 

Jehovah  and 
Abraham. 

A  Hebrew  Idyl. 


and    centrilugal    strain    of   disintegrating 
vice. 

Those  "ten  righteous"  are  the  secret 
and  immortal  cabal  which  -unconsciously 
plots  the  preservation  of  the  state,  as  self- 
ishness and  low  chicanery  and  political 
intrigue  are  forever  plotting  its  destruc- 
tion. 


XII. 


THE  HERITAGE  OF  THE  INNER  LIFE. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF   THE   INNER   LIFE. 


265 


THE  HEEITAGE  OF   THE  IN:NrEE 

LIFE. 

"And  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate  in  the  field  at 
eventide."  —  Genesis  xxiv.  63. 

A  SINGLE  trait  will  often  reveal  the  in- 
dividual to  whom  it  pertains  as  truly  as  a 
finished  portrait.  We  know  very  little  of 
the  second  of  those  immortal  three  whom 
the  Hebrew  nation  was  so  fond  of  namincr 
in  associated  sequence, — the  ancestral  trio 
from  whom  they  derived  their  origins  and 
their  God.  Much  less  of  Isaac  do  we 
know  than  of  Abraham  his  father  or  Jacob 
his  son.  These  fill  a  large  space  in  the 
annals  of  that  people  ;  they  are  prominent 
and  very  positive  individualities.  Abra- 
ham, the  majestic  sheik,  the  mighty  Meso- 
potamian  prince,  the  first  monotheist,  the 
first  distinct  historic  personality,  stands 
out  in  heroic  relief  on  the  canvas  of  tra- 

12 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


266 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF    HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


dition.  Jacob,  the  self-seeking,  calculat- 
ing, plodding,  intriguing,  but  also  much 
enduring,  patient,  indefatigable  adventur- 
er, is  also  a  marked  and  significant  figure. 
Between  these  two,  so  unlike  in  intellect- 
ual and  moral  worth,  but  resembling  each 
other  in  force  and  enterprise,  the  record 
presents,  like  an  interpolation  of  a  foreign 
stock,  the  mild  apparition  of  passive,  med- 
itative Isaac,  a  man  with  as  little  of  the 
hero  in  his  composition  as  any  whose  name 
has  come  down  to  us.  Very  little  is  said 
of  liim  by  the  annalist,  in  comparison  with 
the  other  two,  for  the  reason,  I  suppose, 
that  tliere  was  little  to  say.  He  was  not 
one  of  those  who  make  history,  or  of  whom 
history  makes  much.  A  passive  nature, 
moulded  by  circumstance,  easily  persuad- 
ed, obeying  foreign  guidance ;  on  no  occa- 
sijon  do  we  find  him  taking  the  initiative, 
or  striking  out  a  path  for  himself.  In  the 
most  important  concern  of  his  life,  in  the 
choice  of  a  wife,  although  forty  years  old, 
he  suffers  the  whole  business  to  be  man- 
aged for  him  by  paternal  authority;  and 


I 


THE   HERITAGE   OF  THE   INNER  LIFE 


267 


when  the  arrangements  are  completed  ac- 
cepts without  question  the  woman  whom 
his  father's  confidential  servant  had  picked 
up,  in  a  very  accidental  way,  —  the  first 
he  lighted  on  in  Mesopotamia,  whither 
Abraham  had  sent  him  for  that  purpose, 
—  of  whom  he  knew  nothing  but  that  she 
was  fair  to  look  upon  and  willing  to  emi- 
grate in  view  of  a  promised  husband. 
Driven  by  famine  from  Beersheba  to  Ge- 
rar,  he  imitates  a  device  of  his  father  in 
giving  out  that  his  wife  is  his  sister.  We 
are  told  that  he  "waxed  great,"  that  is, 
rich  after  the  manner  of  patriarchal  pros- 
perity, rich  in  flocks  and  herds,  but  we 
are  not  informed  of  any  decisive  act  of  his 
own  by  which  that  wealth  was  obtained, 
or  by  which  he  distinguished  himself 
among  his  contemporaries.  It  is  chiefly 
as  a  link  in  the  line  of  patriarchal  succes- 
sion, as  the  son  of  Abraham  and  father  of 
Jacob,  that  his  name  survives.  The  most 
characteristic  thing  recorded  of  him  is  his 
going  out  to  meditate  in  the  field  at  even- 
tide, at  a  very  critical  period  of  his  his- 


Chap.  xil 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


268 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF  THE   INNER   LIFE. 


269 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


tory.  This  is  all  that  one  naturally  remem- 
bers of  Isaac  except  his  narrow  escape, 
when  a  boy,  from  the  sacrificial  knife,  and 
the  agony  on  his  death-bed  occasioned  by 
the  treachery  of  liis  wife,  who  conspired 
with  her  younger  son  to  cheat  him  of  the 
blessing  intended  for  his  favorite  Esau. 

But  this  going  out  to  meditate  is  really 
characteristic,  and  marks  the  man  more 
than  anything  else  recorded  of  him.  If 
he  did  so  on  this  occasion,  then  probably 
often.  I  suppose  it  was  his  habit  so  to  do. 
He  was  one  of  the  meditative  kind.  In  his 
case,  as  often  happens,  the  want  of  active 
energy  was  compensated  by  disproportion- 
ate intensity  of  the  inner  life.  A  silent, 
brooding  character,  fond  of  his  own  com- 
pany, glad  to  be  alone,  retiring  from  the 
world  of  affairs  into  the  sanctuary  of  the 
mind. 

The  theme  of  the  patriarch's  medita- 
tions who  will  venture  to  guess  ?  Another, 
at  such  a  time,  on  the  eve  of  marriage,  ex- 
pecting  a  wife  by  the  next  arrival  from 
the  East,  would  have  been  absorbed   in 


anticipations  of  the  coming  event,  would 
have  hastened  to  meet  the  promised  bride, 
would  have  kept  his  eye  fixed  on  the  hori- 
zon to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  cara- 
van charged  with  his  fate.  It  is  evident, 
I  think,  from  the  color  of  the  narrative, 
that  this  was  not  Isaac's  mood  or  intent. 
He  went  out  "at  eventide,"  not  to  meet 
his  intended,  like  a  bridegroom  flush  with 
expectation,  impatient  of  delay,  but  to 
have  a  quiet  evening  stroll  and  "  to  med- 
itate." 

I  infer  from  the  nature  of  that  term  a 
mind  preoccupied  with  other  thoughts  than 
those  of  impending  domestic  relations. 
The  word  implies  more  abstract  specula- 
tion. "  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  be- 
hold !  the  camels  were  coming."  His  eyes, 
it  would  seem,  had  been  previously  fixed 
on  the  ground,  as  one  absorbed  in  specu- 
lation; intent,  perhaps,  on  some  of  those 
great  questions  of  Providence  and  destiny 
which  have  been  at  once  the  puzzle  and 
delight  of  meditative  minds  in  every  age. 
Who  knows  ?     It  was  before  the  days  of 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


1  v*-3Bt,.»ai«s^'(?#>ss34P%-~!ji,^'*jias^9.j!Sg«lK^S,^5^».,^  ^^t-^«  a^ 


270 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF   THE  INNER  LIFE. 


271 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


literature.    Writing  had  not  been  invent- 
ed.  If  the  patriarch  experienced  intuitions, 
or   had   formed   conclusions,   on    any   of 
these  themes,  there  was  no  opportunity  of 
recording  them,  no  provision,  no  medium 
for  their  transmission,  except  the  very  in- 
adequate one  of  oral  tradition,  which  re- 
tains only  the  gross  idea  or  concrete  fact, 
not  tlje  finer,  subtile  thought,  unless  em- 
bodied in  a  parable  or  fable.     But  these 
finer  thoughts  do  not  always  admit  of  be- 
ing so  embodied,  nor  do  all  who  conceive 
them  possess  the  artistic  faculty  required 
for  such  representation.     And  so  the  med- 
itations of  Isaac,  and  their  theme,  must  be 
left  to  conjecture.   -Whatever  they  were, 
whether  wise  or  foolish,  shallow  or  pro- 
found,  they   are    lost    to   posterity.      He 
wrote  no  book,  he  composed  no  fable,  or 
none  that  has  come  down  in  his  name. 
And  yet,  on  the  ground  of  this  slight  in- 
timation, I  entertain  the  fancy  that  Isaac 
was  a  thinker  and  a  seer,  a  man  of  con- 
templative habit  and  introverted  mind,  to 
whom,  in  rapt  moods,  came  trutlis  of  mys- 


tic import,  and  who  lived  and  rejoiced  in 
their  light.  Those  evening  meditations 
have  not  transpired;  the  topics  of  his 
musing  and  their  results  are  lost  to  the 
world;  but  the  musing  spirit  of  the  man 
was  not  lost,  —  it  survived  in  his  descend- 
ants, it  became  a  distinguishing  trait  of 
the  Hebrew  race. 

Compare  that  people  with  other  nations 
of  antiquity, — with  the  two  best  known  to 
us  by  their  history  and  works,  the  Greeks 
and  Eomans.  Wliat  is  it  that  first  strikes 
us  as  constituting  the  main  distinction  be- 
tween them  ?  Beyond  all  question  it  is 
their  religion.  The  religion  of  the  He- 
brews acknowledged  and  adored  one  only 
God.  The  religion  of  the  Greeks  and  Eo- 
mans believed  in  a  multiplicity  of  gods ; 
a  separate  divinity  for  every  power  in  na- 
ture and  every  aspect  of  life.  The  God 
of  the  Hebrews  was  the  infinite  Spirit 
that  made  and  rules  the  universe  of 
things;  the  gods  of  the  Greeks  and  Eo- 
mans were  partly  impersonations  of  nat- 
ural forces  and  partly  deified  men.     They 


Chap.  XIL 

T^e  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


272  PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


sought  and  saw  their  divinities  in  natural 
objects,  in  sun  and  moon,  in  thunder  and 
rain,  in  mountains,  woods,  and  rivers,  in 
the  passions  of  love  and  lust,  and  the  for- 
tunes of  war.     The  Hebrews  sought  and 
found  their  God  in  the  secret  of  the  mind. 
It  is  the  nature  of  monotheism  to  turn  the 
thoughts  of  men  inward,  that  of  polythe- 
ism to  fix  them  on  things  without.     Ac- 
cordingly, the  Gentile  religion  favored  ex- 
ternal representations,— statues  and  games 
and  theatrical  sliows ;  the  Hebrew  favored 
silent  thought  and  devout  aspiration.    The 
one  promoted  plastic  art,  the  other  devel- 
oped the  interior  life. 

We  may  say,  then,  that  the  Hebrew 
mind  was  distinguished  by  its  inwardness, 
the  Hebrew  race  by  the  inwardness  of 
their  religion  and  all  their  intellectual 
life.  We  cannot  deny  to  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  to  the  former  especially,  the 
credit  of  having  produced  great  thinkers. 
Some  of  the  greatest  the  world  has  known 
have  been  the  product  of  Greek  life.  But 
the  general  drift  of  Greek  culture  was  not- 


THE   HERITAGE   OF  THE   INNER  LIFE. 


273 


in  that  direction.    It  tended  rather  to  out- 
ward forms,  to  plastic  and  dramatic  art. 
The  genius  of  the  Hebrews,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  essentially  religious;  its  legit- 
imate  expression  was   devout   aspiration, 
prophecy  and  psalm.      Every  monument 
which  we  possess  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
that  peojjle  is,  in  one  way  or  another,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  concerned  with  religion. 
Thus   the    spirit   of    silent,   meditative 
Isaac  reproduced  itself  in  the  life  of  his 
race  through  all  the  ages  of  their  won- 
drous history.     Less    conspicuous   in  the 
record  than  the  other  two  with  whom  his 
name  is  associated,  —  the  one  as  father, 
the  other  as  son,  —  a  mute,  undemonstra- 
tive, isolated  figure  between  majestic  Abra- 
ham and  plodding,  scheming,  shuffling  Ja- 
cob ;  he,  too,  has  stamped  his  type  on  his 
descendants.    His;  people  still  name  him  in 
the  triad  of  progenitors  who  prefigured  the 
fortunes  of  the  race  when  the  world  was 
young,  and  will  name  him  while  a  vestiiie 
of  the  race  endures.     The  ancestral  three 
have   each  bequeathed  to   their  progeny 

12  * 


Chap.  XIL 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


274 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF   THE   INNER   LIFE. 


275 


Chap.  XII. 

I%«  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


one  distinguishing  trait.  From  Abraham 
the  race  derived  the  idea  of  one  God, 
the  original  impulse  of  their  monotheism. 
Father  Jacob  gave  them  the  acquisitive- 
ness, the  calculating  spirit  of  trade,  and 
the  long-suffering,  which  still  distinguish 
them  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 
The  legacy  of  Isaac  was  the  silent,  brood- 
ing mind,  the  tendency  to  inwardness,  less 
generally  diffused,  less  frequently  devel- 
oped, less  nationally  prominent,  but  still, 
on  the  whole,  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  charac- 
teristic trait. 

It  manifests  itself  with  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctness in  all  the  great  worthies  of  He- 
brew history.  After  ages  of  bondage,  when 
the  lights  of  the  patriarchal  world  had 
faded  into  dim  tradition,  it  reappeared  in 
Moses,  the  deliverer  of  the  sunken  and 
oppressed  race,  the  regenerator  of  Israel, 
who  conversed  with  the  long-forgotten  God 
in  the  solitudes  of  Horeb,  and  evolved 
from  his  brooding  mind,  in  lonely  med- 
itation, the  great  thought  of  the  Hebrew 
theocracy.     We  see  traces  of  it  in  Joshua 


and  Jephthah  and  Gideon,  men  of  action 
though  they  were,  whose  calling  was  the 
sword.  It  manifests  itself  with  intenser  en- 
ergy in  the  life  of  David,  —  also,  and  em- 
phatically, a  man  of  action ;  but  one  who, 
amid  all  the  distractions  of  war  and  all 
the  disquietudes  of  regal  office,  found  time 
for  solitary  seK-communion,  and  deeply 
meditated  the  wonders  of  Divine  Wis- 
dom,  and  sung  the  guiding  hand  of  the 
shepherd  God.  It  lay  at  the  foundation, 
and  furnished  the  topics,  and  kindled  the 
fire  of  the  awfully  sublime  strains,  the 
gorgeous  visions,  the  burning  invectives 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  from  Joel  to  Mal- 
achi.  Then,  after  an  interval  of  centuries, 
it  glowed  again  with  renewed  fervor  in 
John  the  Baptist,  who  drew  all  Judsea  to 
the  wilderness  to  hear  his  warnings  and 
receive  from  him  the  baptism  of  repent- 
ance. I  need  not  say  how  large  a  con- 
stituent it  was  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  the 
consummate  flower  of  the  nation's  and  the 
world's  history.  John  of  the  Apocalypse 
saw  in  its  li^ht  the  fall  of  Eome  and  the 


Chap.  XII. 

Tlie  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


''im. 


276 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD   OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


Chap.  XII. 

TTie  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


splendors  of  the  New  Jenisalem.  Paul 
was  carried  by  it  into  the  seventh  heaven, 
"  whether  in  the  body  of  out  of  the  body," 
he  could  not  tell.  In  later  time  Maimon- 
ides,  by  means  of  it,  divined  the  deeper 
import  of  the  Hebrew  Scripture.  And, 
later  still,  Spinoza,  profoundest  of  modern 
Israelites,  —  cast  out  of  the  synagogue,  — 
found  in  it  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  and  a 
peace  from  the  bosom  of  God  which  the 
jar  of  the  world  could  not  disturb  and  per- 
secution assailed  in  vain. 

Thus  the  spirit  of  Isaac,  the  inward-look- 
ing, thoughtful,  brooding  spirit  lived,  and, 
it  may  be,  still  lives  in  his  descendants. 
The  predisposition  to  interior  life  was  his 
bequest  to  the  Hebrew  race.  And  who 
does  not  see  that  all  which  that  race  have 
been  to  the  world,  all  that  Isaac's  poste::- 
ity  have  done  for  mankind,  is  due  to  the 
wealth  and  force  of  their  interior  life.  As 
a  civil  power,  they  have  never  flourished 
with  anything  like  the  vigor  and  spread 
of  other  nations.  Even  in  the  time  of  Sol- 
omon, the  golden  age  of  their  prosperity. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF   THE   INNER   LIFE. 


277 


i 

H 


V 


the  extent  of  their  dominion  was  very 
limited,  their^  foreign  power  insignificant 
compared  with  the  mighty  monarchies 
that  bordered  and  finally  overwhelmed 
them.  Shut  up  in  the  narrow  territoiy 
of  Palestine,  with  a  landlocked  capital,  — 
few  facilities  of  commerce  and  measure  in- 
dustrial  development, — they  present  a  con- 
temptible figure  in  political  history.  But 
what  people  among  all  the  races  of  men 
has  obtained  such  moral  sway  and  exerted 
an  influence  so  broad  and  deep  on  the 
world  of  mankind  ?  What  has  any  other 
of  the  nations  of  antiquity  contributed  to 
human  growth  and  well-being  that  de- 
serves to  be  compared  with  the  blessing 
conferred  on  humanity  by  Isaac's  line  ? 
Take  the  most  powerful  of  them  all,  the 
strong,  imperial  Koman,  whose  legions  sub- 
dued the  earth,  whose  empire  stretched 
from  Egypt  to  Britain,  from  the  Caspian 
to  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  the  traces  of 
whose  power  are  visible  in  most  of  the 
countries  of  Europe  to  this  day ;  what,  on 
the  whole,  have  the  Eomans  done  for  man- 


Chap.  xil 

TTie  Heritage 
of  the  Inner 

Life. 


278 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW   TRADITION. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF   THE   INNER   LIFE. 


279 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


kind  ?     Something  in  the  way  of  civiliza- 
tion.   In  the  way  of  civil  jurisdiction  much. 
A  body  of  laws  they  have  given  to  the 
world  which  still  remains  the  noblest  mon- 
ument of  legislation,  and  is  still  received  as 
the  best  in  that  kind.     The  Greeks  have 
given  us  letters  and  the  highest  models 
of  beautiful  art.     But  these  benefactions, 
precious  as  they  are   in  themselves,  are 
comparatively  light  when  weighed  in  the 
balance  with  that  supreme  blessing  con- 
ferred on  the  world  by  the  Hebrew  race, 
—  the  Christian  religion  with  its  civiliz- 
ing, humanizing,  world-enlightening,  sav- 
ing power.    Grecian  letters  and  Eoman  ju- 
risprudence failed  to  preserve  the  ancient 
world    from    dissolution    and   corruption. 
And  when  that  world  was  tumbling  into 
ruin,  when  decay  was  stealing  over  all  the 
glories  and  grace  of  life,  and  death  was 
sapping  the  heart  of  society;  then,  from 
the  depth  of  the  inner  life,  enkindled  in 
a  prophet  of  the  Hebrew  race,  God  sent 
forth  his  Spirit  to  renew  the  face  of  the 
earth.     Man  heard  once  more  the  genuine 


accent  of  faith,  and  lived  again.     The  gos- 
pel, 

'^  Through  a  world  of  death, 
Breathed  into  him  a  second  breath 
More  searching  than  the  breath  of  spring." 

Considered  solely  as  a  means  of  civiliza- 
tion, as  an  agent  in  extending  the  human 
family,  —  or  the  better  and  more  progres- 
sive portion  of  it,  —  as  an  agent  in  worth- 
ily and  profitably  occupying  the  habitable 
earth,  Christianity  outweighs  all  other 
agencies,  and  all  the  products  of  human 
invention.  And  Christianity,  so  far  as 
race  and  .nation  are  concerned  in  its  jjen- 
esis,  is  a  growth  of  the  Hebrew  stem,  a 
birth  from  that  interior  spiritual  life  so 
characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  race.  It  was 
born  of  Jewish  parentage,  it  was  cradled 
in  Jewish  conventicles,  it  went  forth  from 
Jerusalem  in  the  charge  of  Jewish  men. 
From  the  bosom  of  Judaism  came  the 
mightiest  power  that  has  ever  swayed 
mankind. 

Thus  flowered  and  culminated  the  spirit 
of  meditation  which  Judah  inherited  from 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


280 


PRIMEVAL   WORLD    OF   HEBREW  TRADITION. 


Chap.  XII. 

The  Heritage 

of  the.  Inner 

Life. 


Isaac,  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  promise 
given  to  the  arch-father  of  monotheism, 
"  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called,"  and, 
in  that  seed  "  shall  all  the  nations  of  the 
eartJi  be  blessed." 

The  quantity  and  force  of  the  inner  Hfe 
in  the  thoughtful  men  of  a  nation  is  a 
measure  of  the  greatness  which  that  na- 
tion is  destined  to  realize  in  its  own  fu- 
ture, or  of  which  it  is  to  be  the  source  and 
occasion  to  other  lands.     The  thoughtful 
men  of  England  in  the  sixteenth  century 
were   the   Puritans.     The   ruling   powers 
of  the  nation,  king,  lords,  and  bishops,  de- 
spised and  persecuted  and  cast  them  out. 
But  from  them  came  the  overthrow  of  the 
evil  dynasty  that  sought  to  crush  them. 
From  them   came    England's   subsequent 
greatness ;  and  from  them  came  the  great- 
est  in   energy   and   promise    of   existing 
nations.   American  growth,  American  free- 
dom, the  polity  of  these  States,  their  com- 
merce,   industry,    and    westward-pushing 
progress,  are  the  latest  outcome  of  the  in- 
ner life,  whose  first  fruit  was  Puritanism. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF  THE   INNER   LIFE. 


281 


The  whole  Arabian  civilization  which 
flourished  with  so  much  splendor  in  the 
Middle  Age,  far  surpassing  the  Christian 
world  of  that  time  in  science  and  art,  was 
the  natural  growth  of  the  faith  which  orig- 
inated in  the  brooding  mind  of  Moham- 
med, also  a  descendant  of  Abraham,  in 
whom,   I   think,   the   great   progenitor  is 
more  apparent  than  in  any  of  Isaac's  seed. 
In  fine,  whatever  is  grandest  and  best 
and   most   enduring    in   human    achieve- 
ments is  directly  or  indirectly  the  issue 
and  fruit  of  the  inner  life.     Whoever  has 
conceived  in  himself  any  fruitful,  world- 
renewing  thought,  whoever  has  proposed 
to  himself  any  arduous  and  saving  work 
or  mission,  has  been  guided  thereto  by  se- 
cret meditation.     Alone,  in  the  wilderness, 
battling  with  self  and  the  world,  the  Son 
of  Man  laid  fast  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  ages.     In  the  solitudes  of  mo- 
nastic seclusion  the  great  Eeformer  and 
father  of  Protestantism  received  into  his 
soul  the  new  evangile  of  faith  and  free- 
dom. 


Chap.  XIL 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


282 


PRIMEVAL  WORLD   OF  HEBREW  TRADITION. 


THE   HERITAGE   OF  THE   INNER   LIFE. 


283 


Chap.  XIL 

The  Heritage 
■   of  the  Inner 
Life. 


The  solitary  thinkers,  they  are  the 
world's  rulers,  they  are  the  creators,  they 
are  the  future,  they  are  fate.  In  lonely 
self-communion  the  mind  encounters  the 
primordial  powers  that  have  the  shaping 
of  our  own  and  the  world's  destinies. 
There  in  their  secret  laboratory  the  silent 
viotherSy  Eeason,  Imagination,  Faith,  and 
Will,  devise  and  mould  the  coming  time. 
Who  can  guess  what  new  births  of  social 
life,  what  new  dispensations  of  the  Spirit, 
are  yet  to  spring  from  that  unknown  world 
which  contains  the  archetypes  and  rudi- 
ments of  all  things  ? 

Man  has  searched  creation  throuirh  in 
quest  of  knowledge:  he  has  looked  into 
every  corner  of  the  habitable  globe,  he  has 
studied  the  products  of  every  zone,  he  has 
sounded  the  seas  and  measured  the  heav- 
ens, he  has  noted  the  structure  of  every 
creature  and  the  path  of  every  star ;  there 
is  no  inquiry  so  arduous  which  he  has  not 
attempted,  no  science  so  perplexing  which 
he  has  not  pursued.  He  has  made  him- 
self acquainted  with  the  world  of  his  sur- 


\ 


1 


rounding.  But  that  inner  w^orld,  enclosed 
within  the  walls  of  the  fleshly  frame,  the 
world  of  ideas,  so  bounded  in  space,  so 
boundless  in  wealth  and  capacity,  who 
shall  fathom  ?  The  possibilities  of  mate- 
rial nature  we  are  fast  ascertaining  and 
may  hope  one  day  to  fully  explore  and 
comprehend.  But  the  possibilities  of  the 
Spirit,  of  life  as  shaped  by  the  Spirit,  who 
can  divine  ?  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be."  We  know  not  what  the  fu- 
ture has  in  store  for  the  race.  But  when 
we  compare  the  idea  in  our  mind  with  the 
facts  of  life  there  opens  to  our  thought 
an  inexhaustible  field  of  moral  enterprise, 
an  interminable  prospect  of  ends  to  be 
achieved  and  victories  won. 

God  be  thanked  for  the  limitless  long- 
ing, the  unquenchable  hope ;  for  the  un- 
written leaves  in  the  Book  of  Fate;  for 
the  unknown  wealth  and  incalculable 
powers  of  the  inner  life ! 


Chap.  XIL 

The  Heritage 

of  the  Inner 

Life. 


S     V 


■'I-  ,) 


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